US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a second Signal group chat that included his wife, lawyer and brother, three people familiar with the chat told CNN.
The revelation comes as some of Hegseth’s closest advisers have begun sounding the alarm about the secretary’s judgment, including his former press secretary, John Ullyot, and three former senior officials Hegseth fired last week — his top adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, who served as chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defence.
It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot said in a statement obtained by CNN.
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The second Signal chat is in addition to the one Hegseth used to communicate with Cabinet officials last month about military plans, which is now under investigation by the Defence Department’s acting inspector general.
The chat was set up during the confirmation hearing process as a way for Hegseth’s closest allies to strategise, two of the people familiar with the matter said.
But Hegseth continued using the chat, which was on his personal phone, to communicate with them after he was confirmed, the people said.
Similar to the first Signal chat, which was revealed publicly by The Atlantic after its editor was mistakenly included by national security adviser Mike Waltz, the military plans Hegseth shared in the second Signal chat were about strikes against the Houthis, the people said.
Hegseth’s brother Phil, as well as his lawyer Tim Parlatore, both have jobs at the Department of Defence.
But his wife, Jennifer, does not, despite Hegseth regularly including her during the beginning of his tenure in meetings with foreign leaders.
It is not clear whether everyone in the second Signal chat has a security clearance.
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CNN has reached out to Hegseth’s spokesperson for comment.
The New York Times was first to report on the second Signal chat.
News of the second Signal chat follows days of turmoil at the Defence Department, after Hegseth fired Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll and reassigned his chief of staff, Joe Kasper.
Last week, Pentagon spokespeople said the chaos had resulted from a leak investigation.
A series of leaks about military planning for the Panama Canal and the Middle East, about a possible consolidation of the combatant commands, and about a classified China briefing for Elon Musk at the Pentagon had deeply rattled Hegseth by mid-March, sources told CNN.
So he and Kasper launched a leak probe, complete with polygraph tests.
Hegseth began to lash out and grew suspicious that senior military officials, as well as some of his closest advisers, were leaking to undermine him, the sources added.
And they said the firings are just one symptom of the dysfunction that has enveloped Hegseth’s office over the last five weeks, as leaks and infighting have left him increasingly suspicious of even his closest longtime advisers.
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Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll wrote Saturday in a joint statement that they are “incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defence ended” and denied leaking information.
“Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door,” they wrote.
“All three of us served our country honourably in uniform — for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it.
“At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with.”
Ullyot, who served as Hegseth’s press secretary until earlier this month, also said Sunday that it is “not true” that Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll were fired for leaking sensitive information.
“While the Department said that it would conduct polygraph tests as part of the probe, not one of three has been given a lie detector test,” Ullyot said.
“In fact, at least one of the three has told former colleagues straight out that investigators advised him he was about to be cleared officially of any wrongdoing.
Unfortunately, Hegseth’s team has developed a habit of spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door.”
Hegseth has also grown increasingly concerned about the inspector general’s investigation into his use of Signal, the sources said.
Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll expect to be interviewed as part of that probe, the sources added.
The turmoil has raised more concerns about Hegseth’s judgement and priorities among current and former officials, and comes as the Pentagon is executing a major military operation in the Middle East against the Houthis, moving assets to the region in the event of a wider war between Israel and Iran, and surging troops and equipment to the southern border.
“Even strong backers of the secretary like me must admit: The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon — and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration,” Ullyot said.
