Washington-A minutes before us, the combat planes took off to start the strikes against the hutis rebels backed by Iranians in Yemen last month, the army general Michael Erik Kurilla, who directs the central command of the United States, used a safe government system of the United States to send detailed information about the operation to the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The material that Kurilla sent included details about when the US combatants would take off and when they would reach their goals, details that could, if they fell into their wrong hands, put the pilots of those combatants in serious danger. But he was doing exactly what he was supposed to: Provide Hegseth, his superior, with information that he needed to know and use a system designed specifically to transmit confidential information and safely classified.
But then Hegseth used his personal phone to send some of the same information that Kurilla had given him For at least two group text chats in the application of signal messaging, three US officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges told NBC News.
The sequence of events, which have not been reported above, could ask new questions about the management of information by Hegseth, that he and the government have denied was classified. In total, according to the two sources, less than 10 minutes between Kurilla passed, giving Hegseth the information and Hegseth sends it to the two group chats, one of which included other officials at the cabinet level and their designated, and, inadvertently, the editor of Atlantic magazine. One of them was composed of the wife, brother and lawyer of Hegseth and some of his assistants.
Hegseth shared the information about the signal, although NBC News reported, an assistant warned him in advance days that be careful not to share confidential information about a communications system not sure before the Yemen hit, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
“No signal classified material was shared,” said the spokesman for the Pentagon Chief Sean Parnell, who described the accusations “an attempt to sabotage President Trump and Secretary Hegseth.”
President Donald Trump took advantage of Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, for a job for which the Democrats and even some Republicans worried that he was not qualified. Now, following the revelation of the second signal chat that included his wife and brother, which the New York Times first reported Sunday afternoon, faces his dismissal even when Trump supports him.
“Pete is doing a great job; everyone is happy with him,” Trump said Monday at the White House Easter egg. “There is no dysfunction.”
Hegseth was also challenging in the event, dismissing the reports, although not specifically denying them. “This is what the media do,” he said. He added: “He will not work with me, because we are changing the Department of Defense, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war combatants, and anonymous smear of former unhappy employees in old news does not matter.”
At least one member of Trump’s own party sees it differently. Representative Don Bacon, Republican of NB.
“He had concerns from the first moment because Pete Hegseth did not have much experience,” Bacon said, a general withdrawn from the Air Force. “I like Fox, but do you have the experience of leading one of the world’s biggest organizations? That is a concern.”
Two Trump advisors, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Monday, dismissed the idea that Hegseth will be fired.
“There is no talk at this time to eliminate or replace it. We have gone through this before, and from the moment, it is simply not something we are talking about,” said one.
The other said: “The idea of something would force him to leave is not reality. The president still supports him.”
A former upper official in Trump’s first administration, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the fear of reprisals, said confusion for Hegseth’s decision to share the information about Yemen’s strike with his wife and brother.
“I cannot imagine a scenario in which national security officials consider adequate to share delicate details about policies and planning with family members who do not need to know,” said the former official. “Doing doing it in an un classified messaging application is even more atrocious.”
