Created by Secretary Hegseth Before Taking Office
Separate from the "Signal Chatroom"
Shared Sensitive Information Including Yemen Houthi Airstrike Schedule
Amid a series of resignations by senior officials at the U.S. Department of Defense following the leak of classified information related to the airstrike against Yemen's Houthi rebels, it has been additionally revealed that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared airstrike plans in a separate private chatroom with his wife, younger brother, and personal attorney, among others.
The New York Times (NYT) reported exclusively on April 20 (local time) that four anonymous sources confirmed these facts. According to the NYT, Secretary Hegseth shared sensitive information, including the schedule for the F/A-18 Hornet airstrike against Yemen's Houthi rebels, in a chatroom on the private messenger app Signal on March 15.
This chatroom was created by Secretary Hegseth himself before he took office and is separate from the chatroom of high-ranking government officials that became the starting point of the so-called "Signalgate." The latter was created by White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who invited senior national security officials from the Trump administration and, by mistake, also invited Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, thereby exposing the chatroom's existence. Secretary Hegseth previously caused controversy by sharing war plans targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels in this chatroom. The chatroom was titled "Houthi PC Small Group."
The chatroom newly revealed by the NYT's exclusive report is a separate group that Secretary Hegseth created before assuming office. This group includes his wife Jennifer, his brother Phil, his personal attorney Tim Parlatore, and other family members, relatives, and close associates. The controversy over intentional leaks of classified information is expected to intensify, not only because a private messenger app was used, but also because family members and relatives, such as his wife, were included in the chatroom.
Jennifer, Secretary Hegseth's wife, is a former Fox News producer who has never held a government position. Phil, his brother and a former right-wing podcast producer, and Parlatore, his personal attorney, were given Department of Defense titles such as "Senior Advisor to the Secretary" and "Navy Judge Advocate," respectively, after Hegseth took office. However, the NYT pointed out that it is unclear whether they had any legitimate need to know real-time information about ongoing classified military operations.
Furthermore, the chatroom was created and used by Secretary Hegseth on his personal phone and was not accessed through his official government-issued phone, further fueling suspicions of intentional leaks of classified information.
According to a source familiar with the chatroom, close associates warned Secretary Hegseth one or two days before the execution of the Houthi airstrike operation not to share sensitive operational details in this chatroom, the NYT reported.
Steven Stebbins, the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense, is currently investigating whether Secretary Hegseth's use of the Signal messenger app and related actions violated management guidelines.
As the investigation into the classified information leak expands, several officials were dismissed or advised to resign last week, including Dan Caldwell, Senior Advisor to the Secretary; Darin Selnick, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary; Colin Carroll, Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary Steven Feinberg; and John Elliott, spokesperson in the Public Affairs Office.
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