According to a source familiar with the message, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses shared details about the imminent US airstrikes in Yemen.
The message sent on March 15 included flight schedules for the appointed F/A-18 Hornets to hit the target for Houthi, sources said. The message was sent on the same day Hegseth accidentally accidentally shared similar operation details in that different signal chat Includes Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg,spark Broad concerns About how senior officials handle sensitive military intelligence.
Some of the winners of the Private Messages were Hegzes’ wife, Jennifer, former Fox News producer, who did not take any official roles at the Department of Defense. She had previously attracted criticism after the Wall Street Journal reported that she had joined the Secretary of Defense on an official foreign trip and attended a high-level meeting with international leaders.
The chat also included Hegseth’s brother, Phil Hegseth, and Tim Paratore, a longtime private attorney for the Secretary of Defense. Both hold positions in the Pentagon, but in this case it was not clear why they needed prior knowledge of strike planning.
The second signal chat was first reported by The New York Times.
In a statement on social media, the Department of Defense said on Sunday: “No matter how you write a story, there was no sensitive information in signal chat. The truth is that the position of Secretary of Defense continues to become stronger and more efficient when carrying out President Trump’s agenda.”
Parnell accused them of “faithfully embracing the complaints of dissatisfied former employees as the sole source of their articles.” Dismissed this week And it appears to have the motivation to interfere with the secretary and the president’s agenda. ”
On Sunday night, Hegseth said he “needs to go.” He responded in a post he told Democrats late Sunday night. “Your agenda is illegal, trans and day. All of these are no longer allowed @dod.”
Signals are encrypted services primarily used for text messaging, but can also be used for voice and video calls. Messages can be set to disappear after a certain period of time, and signals can say that they do not collect or store sensitive information from the user.
That encryption makes it much more difficult for third parties to display messages and make calls than standard text messaging services, but it is not completely secure
Aimee Picchi contributed to this report.
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