The Pentagon denied information from The New York Times that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed details of strikes on the Houthis in a private Signal group chat, which included, among others, his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote about this on social media.
He stated that the media "enthusiastically take complaints from disgruntled former employees as the sole source for their article".
Parnell accused recently fired US Defense Department officials of wanting to "damage the Secretary of Defense and the Presidentʼs agenda".
"There was no classified information in the Signal chats — no matter how they try to present it. And the truth is that the Office of the Secretary of Defense is only becoming stronger and more effective in implementing President Trumpʼs agenda," the Pentagon spokesman added.
The NYT previously reported that Hegseth created a “Defense | Team Huddle” chat room in which he shared, among other things, the flight schedule of F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen. The chat room allegedly included Hegseth’s wife, his brother Phil, his personal lawyer, and dozens of others from the secretary’s personal and professional circle.
What preceded
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, said he was accidentally added to a chat on the Signal messenger, where the American operation against the Houthis was being discussed.
He was added to the chat by an account under the name Mike Waltz, the name of the US Presidentʼs national security adviser. According to Goldberg, the chat contained information about the targets, the weapons the US would use, and the sequence of attacks. Shortly after, direct attacks on Yemen took place.
Waltz later took responsibility for the incident and said that someone else was supposed to be added to the chat instead of the journalist, but the number was mistakenly added to someone elseʼs list. Trump considered firing Waltz for the Signal chat leak, but did not want to please his critics.
The head of the Pentagon, the directors of the US National Intelligence and CIA, as well as President Donald Trump, denied that military plans and classified information were discussed on the Signal messenger. Therefore, journalists at The Atlantic decided to publish this correspondence.
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