The Pentagon’s representative inspector has reviews on the use of Defense Secretary Pete Hegses’ signal messaging app to communicate plans for a military strike against the Hooty militants in Yemen.
This review also examines other defense personnel using publicly encrypted apps. This is unable to process classified material and is not part of the Department of Defense’s secure communications network.
Hegseth’s use of the app came to light when Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to the signal chain by national security adviser Mike Waltz.
The chain includes Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who gathered to discuss the March 15 military operation against Iran-backed Houthis.
“The purpose of this assessment is to determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DOD officials have complied with the DOD policy and procedures for using commercial messaging applications for official business,” Steven Stebbins’ representative said in a notice to Hegses.
“We will also verify compliance with classification and recordkeeping requirements.”
In the chain, Hegseth provided the exact timing of the Warplane launch before the US service personnel carrying out those attacks went into the air, providing them when the bomb fell.
The review was launched at the request of Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat.
During the Congressional hearing, Democrats raised concerns about the use of cues and pressed military officials on whether it would be appropriate to use commercial apps to discuss military operations.
Current and former military officials say the level of detail that Hegseth shares at the signal is likely to be categorized.
The Trump administration claimed that no classified information was shared and that it dismissed the incident as “glitch.”
