Yemen Pentagon oversight examines Hegseth's behavior in chat affair
The internal oversight of the US Department of Defense is investigating the publication of content from a secret group chat of high-ranking members of the government.
04.04.2025, 01:39
SDA
At the request of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's handling of the Signal app is being examined, according to a letter from the independent oversight body.
According to the letter, it is to be investigated whether Hegseth improperly shared operational plans for a US military operation against the Houthi militia in Yemen via the commercial app - and whether regulations on confidentiality and the retention of government documents were complied with. According to the letter, the actions of other ministry employees are also under scrutiny.
At the end of March, the US magazine "The Atlantic" made the contents of the chat public after its editor-in-chief was - presumably inadvertently - invited to the Signal group. The leaked communication shows that Hegseth mentioned the timetable, the sequence of the bombing and the weapons systems used around half an hour before the start of a military operation. Among other things, it says verbatim: "Target terrorist is at his known location."
Republican Senator Roger Wicker and Democratic Senator Jack Reed had expressed considerable concerns in their request to the Pentagon oversight. They suspected that "unclassified networks were being used to communicate sensitive and classified information".
At least publicly, US President Donald Trump recently backed the members of the chat group, which also included his security advisor Mike Waltz. The latter had apparently unintentionally invited the "Atlantic" editor-in-chief to join the group. According to the "New York Times", however, there is definitely resentment within the government behind the scenes.
When asked about the investigation that has now been launched, Trump reacted with annoyance. "Don't start that again," he replied when asked by a journalist. "It's such a wasted story."
