Pete Hegseth Reportedly Sent Details of an Attack in a Second Signal Chat

Operational security does not seem like the top priority of Pete Hegseth's Department of Defense. One month after it was reported that Hegseth had shared sensitive attack plans in a Signal chat that included both the vice president and the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, new reporting suggests that that was not an isolated incident.

Following the news that Hegseth was in a second Signal chat, many want to learn more about what the Signal chat was about, and why he seems to be so fond of using the app. Here's what we know:

According to reporting in The New York Times, Hegseth was in another Signal chat where he was discussing the same military airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen that were discussed in the originally reported chat. According to the reporting, which comes from an anonymous source who was on the chat, it included 13 people and was named Defense Team Huddle.

The New York Times also reported that the chain included Hegseth's wife, Jennifer, who is a producer at Fox News, and his brother, Phil, who was recently hired as a liaison and senior advisor at the Department of Homeland Security. Both Phil and Jennifer have traveled with Hegseth and attended high-level meetings, almost undoubtedly hearing classified information that they should not be aware of.

In response to the reporting, the White House suggested that these claims were false and were coming from disgruntled former employees.

“No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared,” said Anna Kelly, the White House deputy press secretary. A spokesperson at the Pentagon offered a similarly flowery denial.

“Recently-fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the President’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable," Kelly's statement continued.

Meanwhile, calls for Hegseth's resignation grew amongst Trump's opposition as it became clear that he has used Signal frequently to share sensitive information.

Hegseth's use of Signal to share sensitive attack plans is currently under investigation by the Department of Defense's acting inspector general, and come after four people in Hegseth's inner circle left the Pentagon in early April. The departure of these people was part of a broader effort designed to stem information leaks, but the picture inside Hegseth's Pentagon is looking increasingly chaotic now that he's been in the job for three months.

While Hegseth's departure still seems unlikely unless the president announces he no longer supports him, this kind of pressure makes it hard for Hegseth or the Trump administration to argue that they are bringing the kind of order and stability to government that they promised. The first order of business for Hegseth is likely to stop sharing sensitive, classified information in group chats. After that, though, it seems like he'll have more work to do to get his department in order.