Secretary of the Department of Defense Pete Hegseth shared details about the immediate attack on Houthi in Yemen in March in the second group chat using the messaging application signal including his wife, his sister and his personal lawyers two sources who were familiar with the contents of the chat told ABC News.
The details distributed in the second chat include flight schedules for F/A-18 bees involved in the attack delayed in the Houthi position, according to officials. The New York Times first reported the division of hegseth details in the second signal group.
Sharing the details reported occurred around the same time in mid -March when the key member of the National Security Council President Donald Trump, including Hegseth, accidentally shared details about the March 15 missile strikes in Yemen with the Atlantic Editor in Chief.
Defense Minister Pete Hegseth hosted the arrival ceremony for Defense Minister El Salvador Rene Merino Monroy at Pentagon in Washington, April 16, 2025.
Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Many of the same content are distributed in second encrypted chat with family members and others – a group of chat that has been made Hegseth on his personal telephone during the confirmation process, the two officials told ABC News.
Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer Hegseth, did not work for the Department of Defense.
His brother, Phil Hegseth, worked as a senior advisor in the Department of Domestic Security and was detailed to the Department of Defense. The Paratore team, Hegseth’s private lawyer, worked at Pentagon as a naval reserve assigned to the Hegseth office.
ABC News has contacted Pentagon to comment, but has not yet received a response.
The source was confirmed with ABC News that the second signal chat that was known was originally created to discuss scheduling and administrative information.
The Independent Pentagon Independent Inspector is evaluating the use of the Hegseth signal application “to determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DOD personnel comply with DOD policies and procedures” to carry out official businesses, Acting Inspector General, Steven Stebbins, said in a notification to Hegseth.
Trump’s government has repeatedly denied the idea that confidential information was distributed in the first known chats; However, some former US officials argue that the distribution of information through channels that are not approved in the minimum place to place troops abroad are at risk.
Its use to divulge sensitive military operations can complicate the ongoing investigation about the potential for leakage involving the first group of known group chatter, which includes top aides and other Pete Hegseth team members – at least three of them have been fired in connection with the investigation.
The officials – and Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick – since then spoke against what they said was an unfounded accusation of them.
“At this moment, we have not been told for what we are investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there is even a real investigation of ‘leak’ to start,” they said in a joint statement on X on April 19.
John Ullyot, a former Top Pentagon spokesman, on Sunday issued an opinion at Politico where he described “a month of total chaos in the Pentagon.”
“From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass dismissal, dysfunction is now a big disturbance for the president – who deserves better than the senior leadership,” he wrote.
“Hegseth now leads a strange and confusing cleaning that has made it without two closest advisors more than a decade – Caldwell and Selnick – and without the Chief of Staff for him and his deputy,” Ullyot wrote.
“Even a strong supporter of the secretary like I had to admit: last month it has become a full destruction in the Pentagon-and that is a real problem for the government,” he added.
“President Donald Trump has a strong record to ask for high -ranking official accountability,” Ullyot wrote. “Considering that, it is difficult to see the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth remains in his role longer.”
Ullyot left Pentagon last weekend after being absent after he controversially maintaining the removal of Jackie Robinson’s information from the DOD website.
He said earlier this week that he had left Pentagon for his own will, while a senior defense official told ABC News that Ullyot was asked to resign.