The Pentagon denied on April 20 that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared information about strikes on Yemen in a private Signal chat that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.
The Pentagon's statement came after the New York Times (NYT) reported, citing its sources, that Hegseth shared details of the attacks on Yemen on March 15 in the Signal chat. Hegseth reportedly mentioned the schedule of F/A-18 Hornets flights against the Houthis in Yemen.
It was "essentially" the same information that Hegseth shared in another Signal chat, which was accidentally joined by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, according to the NYT. Goldberg was reportedly invited to the chat by U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on March 11 — four days before the U.S. military strike on Yemen.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, denied that Hegseth would disseminate sensitive information in the chat, accusing the media of "enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole sources for their stories."
"They (the media) relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President's (Donald Trump) agenda," Parnell said. "There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story."
The news highlights the increasing scrutiny surrounding information security among senior officials in the Trump administration. Apart from the attack on Yemen, U.S. officials have also discussed other sensitive topics on Signal, such as peace between Russia and Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported in March.
John Ullyot, the former top Defense Department spokesperson, wrote in an op-ed for Politico that the Pentagon has been in "total chaos" under Hegseth's leadership, even suggesting that the official may not last "much longer."
The story about Hegseth also coincides with the Washington Post (WP) reporting an improper transfer of confidential documents to thousands of federal employees, including potentially classified White House floor plans.
The WP's investigation revealed that employees had accidentally shared a Google Drive folder containing confidential documents with the entire General Services Administration (GSA) staff, which totals over 11,200 people. The GSA provides administrative and technological support to most federal bureaucracies and manages the state real estate portfolio.
The file sharing started at least in early 2021, the beginning of the Biden presidency, and continued into the Trump administration, including one exchange as recently as last week, according to the WP.
Carl Bildt
(Updated: )
