Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated Tuesday that “informal and unclassified coordinations were shared” in an online chat. He also said that an investigation into Pentagon leakers continues.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Hegseth had shared information regarding upcoming strikes in Yemen in a Signal group chat with his wife, brother, and personal attorney.
This report came after news broke late last month about The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief being accidentally included in an April 13 group chat that featured top Trump Administration officials, including Hegseth, and White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. They were discussing plans to take military action against Yemen.
On Tuesday, Hegseth blamed disgruntled Pentagon workers for leaking information to the mainstream media to undermine President Donald Trump’s agenda.
This is the second time around, right? Hegseth stated during an interview with Fox News Channel. “They sell old stuff and then kick it up again. I repeated that no one was texting war plans. Do you know why I said it? Every day, I am in the Pentagon’s bowels. Just 10 minutes before, I was looking over actual war plans for things that were happening or still pending.
“What was shared over Signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordination for media coordination and other things. That’s what I’ve said from the beginning.”
Hegseth stated that an investigation is ongoing into leaks within the department.
“We take the classification of information very seriously. It’s very significant to us that we safeguard it,” he said. “And so, when we have leaks, which we have had here, we did a very serious leak investigation, and through that leak investigation, unfortunately, we found some folks that we believe were not holding to the protocols that we hold dear here at the Defense Department.
Through that investigation, the person has been removed, and the investigation continues. We are now doing everything possible to safeguard the information.
Hegseth has made changes to his staff in response to the Signal chat controversy. Joe Kasper, the secretary’s chief-of-staff, has been transferred to another post. After an investigation into leaks, senior adviser Dan Caldwell and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff for Deputy Defense Secretary. Stephen Feinberg was put on administrative leave.
Politico reported that all three of them were terminated on Friday.
