{"id":166867,"date":"2025-12-04T01:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T01:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/166867\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T01:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T01:17:08","slug":"hegseth-risked-us-troops-by-sharing-strike-details-on-signal-pentagon-watchdog-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/166867\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth risked US troops by sharing strike details on Signal, Pentagon watchdog finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hegseth US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> is back in the political hot seat as the Pentagon\u2019s watchdog alleged he put American personnel and missions at risk by using the Signal messaging app to share sensitive details about a strike targeting Yemen\u2019s Houthi militants.Trump administration officials used the encrypted app Signal to coordinate sensitive military strikes against Yemen\u2019s Houthi militants in March \u2014 and the group chat accidentally included a journalist. Then\u2013national security adviser Mike Waltz set up the chat with several of Trump\u2019s top Cabinet officials but mistakenly added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.And later, The Atlantic published additional text messages from the Signal group chat, underscoring a massive breach in operational security as specific sensitive information about the Houthi attack was shared in the chat before it was carried out.Sources familiar with the classified report \u2014 now parked with the Senate Armed Services Committee \u2014 say Hegseth blasted out minute-by-minute updates such as \u201c1215 ET: F-18s LAUNCH\u201d and \u201c1415: Strike Drones on Target\u201d in a Signal chat. The inspector general\u2019s probe \u2014 launched in April at lawmakers\u2019 request \u2014 examined whether Hegseth sidestepped secure communications and ignored records rules. A redacted public version is expected Thursday, as bipartisan critics argue Hegseth\u2019s real-time \u201cdeclassification by group chat\u201d put troops at risk, AP news agency reported. <\/p>\n

Signal blunder puts OPSEC under the microscope<\/p>\n

Hegseth told the group \u201cWe are currently clean on OPSEC\u201d after strikes, celebrating the collapse of a building housing a top Houthi missile commander. But the IG faulted him for using a personal device in violation of policy, noting that even if he had authority to declassify, details remained sensitive while pilots were en route. Critics, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, said those launch-time sequences were \u201cinherently classified\u201d and could have gotten aviators killed if intercepted. Waltz later admitted the accidental add and even sought help from Elon Musk for digital forensics.According to the one of the sources said Hegseth technically has the authority to declassify information, and the review didn\u2019t conclude that he mishandled classified material. But it did find that he violated Pentagon policy by conducting official business from a personal device and recommended better training for Defense Department officials. Hegseth refused an in-person interview with the inspector general, instead submitting a written statement, the person said. He argued that he was allowed to declassify information and only shared details he believed would not jeopardize operations.<\/p>\n

Caribbean strike controversy<\/p>\n

The early conclusions intensify pressure on the former Fox News host, as lawmakers had already demanded an independent investigation into his use of the commercial app. Members of Congress are also probing a separate report that a follow-up strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean in September killed survivors after Hegseth allegedly ordered forces to \u201ckill everybody.\u201d Hegseth defended that strike as part of the \u201cfog of war,\u201d saying he did not see any survivors but also \u201cdidn\u2019t stick around,\u201d and that the admiral in charge \u201cmade the right call\u201d in ordering the second attack. He denied any wrongdoing related to the Signal chats, insisting the material was unclassified. \u201cThe Inspector General review is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew all along \u2014 no classified information was shared,\u201d Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement. \u201cThis matter is resolved, and the case is closed.\u201d President Donald Trump \u201cstands by\u201d Hegseth, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, noting the review confirmed that \u201cno classified information was leaked, and operational security was not compromised.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rooted in US campaign against Houthis<\/p>\n

Houthi rebels began firing missiles and drones at commercial and naval ships in late 2023, saying the attacks were aimed at ending Israel\u2019s war with Hamas in Gaza. Those assaults sharply reduced traffic through the Red Sea, which normally handles about $1 trillion in yearly trade. The US-led response in 2024 became the most sustained naval fight since World War II. A ceasefire in Israel and Gaza began in January but fell apart in March. The US then launched a broad assault on Houthi targets, which ended weeks later after Trump said the group agreed to stop targeting ships. Another Gaza ceasefire took effect in October. After it became public that Hegseth\u2019s Signal chat included The Atlantic\u2019s editor, the magazine published the entire thread in March. The messages showed Hegseth laying out strike windows, target locations, timing elements, and which aircraft and weapons would be used. He also noted the US was \u201ccurrently clean\u201d on operational security. Hegseth told Fox News in April that what he shared over Signal was \u201cinformal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is back in the political hot seat as the Pentagon\u2019s watchdog alleged he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[99478,42,43,99476,31348,99475,40,38,41,39,99477],"class_list":["post-166867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-f-18-fighters","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-operational-security-breach","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-signal-messaging-app","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-yemen-houthi-militants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}