Hegseth under fire for sharing sensitive Yemen strike details on second Signal chat

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth communicated specifics of a March strike on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in a chat group with his wife, brother, and personal lawyer, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The revelations of a second Signal chat raise more questions about Hegseth’s use of an unclassified messaging system to share highly sensitive security details, and they come at a particularly sensitive time for him, with senior officials removed from the Pentagon last week as part of an internal leak probe.

In the second chat, Hegseth shared details of the attack, which were similar to those revealed last month by The Atlantic magazine after its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally included in a separate chat on the Signal app, in an embarrassing incident involving all of President Donald Trump’s most senior national security officials.

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The individual familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that the second conversation, which comprised around a dozen people, was set up during his confirmation process to discuss administrative concerns rather than actual military preparation.

According to the insider, the communication contained specifics about the air attack timeline.

Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, has attended sensitive meetings with foreign military counterparts, according to images the Pentagon has publicly posted.

During a meeting Hegseth had with his British counterpart at the Pentagon in March, his wife could be seen sitting behind him.

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Hegseth’s brother is a Department of Homeland Security liaison to the Pentagon.

The Trump administration has aggressively pursued leaks, an effort that has been enthusiastically embraced by Hegseth at the Pentagon.

The Pentagon did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately return a message.

Tumultuous moment for Hegseth

Democratic lawmakers said Hegseth could no longer stay in his job.

“We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a post to X. “But Trump is still too weak to fire him. Pete Hegseth must be fired.”

Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who suffered grave injuries in combat in 2004, said that Hegseth “must resign in disgrace.”

A U.S. official at the Pentagon questioned how Hegseth could keep his job after the latest news.

The latest revelation comes days after Dan Caldwell, one of Hegseth’s leading advisers, was escorted from the Pentagon after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defense.

Although Caldwell is not as well known as other senior Pentagon officials, he has played a critical role for Hegseth and was named as the Pentagon’s point person by the Secretary in the first Signal chat.

“We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended,” Caldwell posted on X on Saturday. “Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door.”

Following Caldwell’s departure, less-senior officials Darin Selnick, who recently became Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff, and Colin Carroll, who was chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, were put on administrative leave and fired on Friday.