Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen in a second Signal group conversation, which included his wife, lawyer and brother, three people familiar with the conversation told CNN.
The conversation group was created during Hegseth’s tumuous confirmation process as secretary of defense as a way for his closest allies to elaborate strategies, according to two of the people familiar with the subject. But Hegseth continued to use the conversation group, which had more than a dozen people to communicate after being confirmed in office.
The revelation comes at a time when some of Hegseth’s closest counselors launched the secretary’s discernment, including his former press secretary John Ulyot, and three former upper officials Hegseth said last week – his main counselor Dan Caldwell, the Darin Selnick Office Deputy Chief of Staff, who served as chief of chief, who served as chief of chief of Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
“It was a month of total chaos in the Pentagon. From leakage leaks on mass -sensitive operational plans, dysfunction is now a great distraction for the president – who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot said in a statement obtained by CNN.
Signal’s second group comes to join what Hegseth used last month to communicate with office officials on military plans. This group is being investigated by the interim inspector of the Department of Defense.
Like the first Signal group, which was publicly revealed by The Atlantic after his editor was included by mistake by the National Security Counselor Mike Waltz, the military plans Hegseth shared in the second group were about attacks on the sources, the sources revealed.
Hegseth’s brother Phil, as well as his lawyer Tim Parlatore, have both jobs in the Defense Department. But the woman, Jennifer, does not have, although Hegseth has included her regularly during the beginning of her term in meetings with foreign leaders. It is not clear whether all participants in the second group of Signal have a security authorization.
A Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said at a tweet on Sunday night that “there was no confidential information on any sign chat.” The New York Times the second group of Signal.
Continuous agitation in the pentagon
The news of the second conversation follows to stir days in the Department of Defense, after Hegseth faced Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll and transferred his chief of staff Joe Kasper.
Last week, Pentagon spokesmen said the chaos had resulted from an investigation of information escapes. But sources have told CNN that the discharges are just a symptom of dysfunction involving Hegseth’s office in the last five weeks, which included internal fights between Kasper, Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll.
Kasper fired his position last week, although he can still be transferred elsewhere in the Pentagon. Did not react to requests for comment.
A series of information leaks on military planning for the Panama Canal and the Middle East, a possible consolidation of combatant commands, and a secret briefing over China for Elon Musk in the Pentagon had deeply shaken Hegseth in mid -March, sources told CNN. Therefore, Hegseth and Kasper have launched an investigation into information escapes, with polygraph tests.
Following the reports – including one of The New York Times on the questionable success of a massive military campaign against the Houthis – Hegseth began to attack and began to suspect that superior military officers, as well as some of their closest counselors, were leaking information to harm, the sources added.
At one point, Hegseth even demanded an FBI investigation into information escapes – which some of his advisers advised against the sources. There was already an active investigation by the General Inspector on Hegseth, and the FBI intervention could only cause more scrutiny, advisers advised.
According to the sources, Hegseth has also been increasingly concerned with the investigation of the inspector general. Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll expect to be questioned under this investigation.
Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll wrote on Saturday in a joint statement that are “incredibly disappointed by how our service in the Defense Department ended” and denied the information escape.
“Anonymous Pentagon officials defame our character with unfounded attacks on our departure. The three we serve our country honorably uniform – for two of us, this included detachments for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and work every day to protect it,” he wrote. “At this moment, we have not yet been told why we have been investigated, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘escapes’ to start.”
ULLYOT, who was Hegseth’s press secretary until the beginning of this month and resigned from the Defense Department last week, also said on Sunday that “is not true” that Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll were dismissed for disclosed sensitive information.
“Although the department said it would perform polygraph tests as part of the investigation, none of the three underwent a lies detector test,” said Ullyot. “In fact, at least one of the three directly told former colleagues that the investigators informed him that he was about to be officially unlawful. Unfortunately, Hegseth’s team acquired anonymously spreading falsehoods on his colleagues to exit the door.”
The riot has raised more concerns about judgment and Hegseth’s priorities among current and old employees, and occurs at the time the Pentagon is performing a major military operation in the Middle East against Hethis, moving assets to the region in the event of a wider war between Israel and Iran, and increasing troops and equipment to the southern border.
“Unfortunately, after a terrible month, the Pentagon no longer focuses on war, but in an endless drama,” said Ullyot.
“Even those who strongly support the secretary, like me, have to admit: the last month was a total collapse in the Pentagon – and is becoming a real problem for the administration,” he added.
Hegseth, for his part, has not yet commented on the dismissal or agitation in his office and avoided situations the last week when he could find the press. Reporters were invited to cover the welcome of the Secretary of Defense to his French homologist at Pentagon on Thursday, but Hegseth did not attend, having sent an advisor.
