US Defence Secy Sent Yemen War Plan To Wife, Brother: Report
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared classified information about a Yemen strike to a private Signal chat group, including flight schedules for the attack.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had sent detailed information about Washington's plan to launch strikes on Yemen, carried out in March, to a private Signal chat group, reported The New York Times. The group was created by himself and included his wife, his brother and about a dozen other people.
As per the report quoting sources familiar with the chat, Hegseth had sent some of the same information on the planned attack against Houthis that he also shared with another Signal group of top officials that was created by Mike Waltz, the national security adviser.
The information included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets that would strike Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.
Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg blew the cover about the Signal chat group created by Waltz where detailed attack plans were divulged by Hegseth to other Trump administration officials after he was accidently added to the group by Waltz.
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Hegseth Shared Information Through Private Device
As per the report, the private chat also included two senior advisers to Hegseth, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, who were fired last week after being accused of leaking unauthorised information.
The former Fox weekend anchor used his private phone, rather than a government device, to access the Signal chat with his family and friends, as per the report.
Later on Sunday, three sources familiar with Hegseth's private Signal group confirmed to CNN that he had used it to share Yemen attack plans before the strikes were launched.
A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages confirmed the second chat to the Associated Press and said that it included 13 people.
The US Defence Secretary has been earlier criticised for including his wife, Jennifer -- a former Fox News producer -- in sensitive meetings with foreign leaders, including a discussion of the war in Ukraine with British military leaders.
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