Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly shared details of an impending military attack on Yemen in a second, more personal Signal chat, as revealed in a New York Times investigation published Sunday and a report from CNN.
Around the same time he was exchanging details on planned airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen in texts with a group of senior government, intelligence officials and a journalist mistakenly added to the group, Hegseth was allegedly sharing nearly identical military intel in a group which included his wife Jennifer, his brother Phil, his personal lawyer Tim Parlatore, and about a dozen others from his inner circle.
This newly disclosed thread, created by Hegseth and named the “Defense | Team Huddle” group, was reportedly accessed through his personal phone, not his government-issued device.
While Phil Hegseth and Parlatore both work for the Pentagon, neither appear to have any apparent reason to be briefed on the operation, which targeted Houthi rebels in Yemen on March 15.
The secretary of defense’s wife is not a Defense Department employee and is already being scrutinized over reports that she traveled with her husband to attend at least two highly sensitive meetings with foreign defense leaders alongside him.
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An unnamed U.S. government official told the Times that the details in Hegseth’s personal Signal group did not constitute a national security breach.
“The truth is that there is an informal group chat that started before confirmation of his closest advisers,” they relayed. “Nothing classified was ever discussed on that chat.”
Revelations about Hegseth’s more informal Signal thread are raising more questions about the Trump administration’s handling of classified information, a little less than a month after a separate leak put government officials and their digital security practices under the microscope.
The initial controversy surfaced after journalist Jeffrey Goldberg exposed how he had been mistakenly added to a private Signal thread containing Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and senior White House and intelligence officials.
The use of a third-party app to exchange highly sensitive information, along with Goldberg’s breach, is currently being investigated by the DoD’s acting inspector general.
The double Signal debacles are far from the only tumult currently rocking the Pentagon.
Earlier this week, four former senior advisers to Hegseth were ousted from the agency after they were linked to information leaks, which included details of military plans for the Panama Canal and reports that Elon Musk was briefed on potential war plans with China.
The mounting scandals have left many questioning Hegseth’s leadership abilities.
The retired Fox News host and former National Guard soldier had never served in government before being confirmed as Secretary of Defense in late January by a tied Senate vote, broken by Vance.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
