The Trump official’s reliance on an unclassified messaging system to share extremely sensitive security details was further questioned when the New York Times reported on Sunday that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared crucial information about the planned attacks to a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer prior to the US launching military strikes on Yemen on March 15.
Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, who had been inadvertently added to the group that included all of President Donald Trump’s top national security officials, revealed last month that Hegseth had shared important information about the attack plans with other Trump administration officials in the Signal group chat, which was set up by US national security adviser Mike Waltz.
The new report said Hegseth allegedly shared the same details of the attack that were revealed last month by The Atlantic magazine. The NYT, citing four sources familiar with the message group, said that the second chat included details of the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets that would strike Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.
Unlike the group in which The Atlantic was mistakenly included by Waltz, the other chat was created by Hegseth himself in January, and it reportedly included his wife and about a dozen other people from his personal and professional inner circle. The group was named “Defense | Team Huddle,” and was operated through his private phone, rather than his government one, the NYT report said.
Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, has also reportedly attended sensitive meetings with foreign military counterparts, the Wall Street Journal has separately reported.
The previously unreported existence of a second Signal chat in which Hegseth shared highly sensitive military information adds to the series of developments that have put his management and judgment under scrutiny. The fact that the Trump team member shared the top secret plans more than once is likely to add to growing criticism of the former Fox weekend anchor’s ability to manage the Pentagon, a massive organisation which operates in matters of life and death around the globe.
The report said that Hegseth reportedly shared the secret plans on both chats at around the same time.
The disclosure of this another usage of Signal for secret information comes as a US official informed Reuters that Dan Caldwell, one of Hegseth’s top advisors, was removed out of the Pentagon last week after being discovered during a Department of Defense leak inquiry.
Less senior officials Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defence Secretary Steve Feinberg, and Darin Selnick, who recently took over as Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff, were placed on administrative leave after Caldwell’s departure, authorities said.
The Senate’s top Democrat demanded that the defence secretary be dismissed over the blunders.
“We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk,” Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, wrote on X.
However, Trump still lacks the strength to fire him. Pete Hegseth needs to be let go.
At the Pentagon, Hegseth has eagerly welcomed the Trump administration’s vigorous pursuit of leaks.
Comment from the Pentagon was not immediately available. A message was not immediately answered by the White House.
