Defense Secretary Pete Hegzes is said to have shared the attack plan on a signal chat that includes his wife, brother and personal attorney. The New York Times reported On Sunday, I quote four people who are familiar with conversations.
In mid-March, the Pentagon leader revealed information in a chat about upcoming strikes in Yemen, including flight schedules for military aircraft targeting Houthis, sources told The Times.
Last month, it was revealed that officials from the Top Trump administration had shared similarly sensitive military information via another signal chat, including Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. In a report that shook Washington, Goldberg detailed how top Trump administration members discussed and detailed the planned attacks on Yemen’s Houtis in chat.
The administration has allowed chats that include Goldberg being legal, but has pushed back claims that information shared with it was classified.
The “Defense|Team Huddle” chat, which includes Hegseth’s wife, brother and personal lawyer, also included others involved in the life of the Secretary of Defense in professional and personal ways prior to confirmation, sources told The Times. No other cabinet-level officials were included, familiar people told the outlet.
Two advisers of Hegzes, who were placed on administrative leave last week amid ongoing administrative leave amid continuing investigations of information leaks at Pentagons Dan Caldwell and Darrin Selnick, were also included in the chat, according to the Times. Caldwell and Selnick and third suspension officer Colin Carroll in a joint statement on Saturday claimed that they all “were “understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it.”
Hegseth’s brother and his personal attorney, Tim Parlatore, both work at the Department of Defense, the Times noted. His wife is not an employee of the Pentagon.
The outlet also reported that Hegseth accessed a chat he created via a private phone rather than a government phone.
The Times reported that sources were aware of the chat, while also saying that the Defense Secretary had revealed the information in a chat with Goldberg about the Yemen strike.
Sources also said Hegseth first created a “Defense|Team Huddle” chat to discuss management or scheduling information, and that the chat was not normally used by the Secretary of Defense to talk about sensitive military operations.
“The truth is that there is an unofficial group chat that began before confirmation of his closest advisor,” a US official told The Times. “Nothing was discussed in that chat.”
Officials declined to comment on whether Hegseth shared detailed targeting information in “Defense|Team Huddle,” according to the outlet.
The Oka reached for the Pentagon for comment.
In the wake of previous controversy over the use of Hegseth’s signals, the Department of Defense (DOD) internal watchdog has launched an investigation into whether the Secretary of Defense “complied with the DOD policy” when he used a chat with Goldberg to talk about the March attack on Houthis in Yemen.
