Here we go again

SECDEF Hegseth is being accused again of having shared sensitive information over the Signal app. This too was around the Houthi attacks a while back, this is a slightly new scandal in that the information was allegedly shared in a different Signal chat stream that included his wife and brother.

CNN has the story (if you can trust their brand of small “j” journalism);

Hegseth shared detailed military plans in second Signal chat that included his wife and brother

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a second Signal group chat, this one on his personal phone and including his wife, lawyer and brother, three people familiar with the chat told CNN.

The chat was set up during Hegseth’s tumultuous confirmation hearing process as a way for his closest allies to strategize, two of the people familiar with the matter said. But Hegseth continued using the chat, which had more than a dozen people in it, to communicate after he was confirmed, the people said.

The revelation comes as some of Hegseth’s closest advisers have begun sounding the alarm about the secretary’s judgment, including his former press secretary, John Ullyot, and three former senior officials Hegseth fired last week — his top adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, who served as chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense.

“It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot said in a statement obtained by CNN. Ullyot also wrote a scathing op-ed about Hegseth for Politico on Sunday.

The second Signal chat is in addition to the one Hegseth used to communicate with Cabinet officials last month about military plans. That chat is under investigation by the Defense Department’s acting inspector general.

Similar to the first Signal chat, which was revealed publicly by The Atlantic after its editor was mistakenly included by national security adviser Mike Waltz, the military plans Hegseth shared in the second chat were about strikes against the Houthis, the people said.

Hegseth’s brother Phil, as well as his lawyer Tim Parlatore, both have jobs at the Department of Defense. But his wife, Jennifer, does not, despite Hegseth regularly including her during the beginning of his tenure in meetings with foreign leaders. It is not clear whether everyone in the second Signal chat has a security clearance.

A spokesperson for the Pentagon, Sean Parnell, said in a tweet Sunday night that “there was no classified information in any Signal chat.”

Following the release of the report, the Pentagon’s top official took to Twitter on Sunday evening to rail against Democrats, replying to a tweet from the Democratic National Committee calling for Hegseth’s ousting. In the first public response since the news broke, Hegseth replied via his personal Twitter account: “Your agenda is illegals, trans & DEI — all of which are no longer allowed” at the Defense Department.

The New York Times was first to report on the second Signal chat.

There’s more at the source, if you want to read CNN.

I don’t know why Hegseth would be suspicious of those working closest to him leaking things. Certainly this latest leak isn’t confirmation that there’s a lack of trust in his inner circle. It’s just more “chaos” and “sustained turmoil” that they always accuse anyone in the Trump Administration of fomenting.

Category: Veterans in the news