Pete Hegseth reportedly shared secret U.S. military strike plans in a private chat with his wife. The New York Times, AP, and others report a growing scandal at the Pentagon.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing mounting pressure after reportedly sharing classified information about a planned U.S. airstrike on the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen within a private Signal messaging group. As first reported by the New York Times, the chat included 13 individuals – among them Hegseth’s wife Jennifer Rauchet, his brother, his personal attorney, and several close associates.

According to the New York Times, the leaked details included operational specifics such as launch times for F/A-18 fighter jets intended to carry out strikes in Yemen. The use of Signal, a private encrypted messaging app, violates established Pentagon protocols, as the platform is not approved for the communication of classified material.

This incident follows an earlier controversy, in which Hegseth reportedly disclosed similar information in a separate Signal group chat. As New York Magazine revealed, that group accidentally included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, who was not intended to receive the messages. That mistake had already sparked concern within the administration and led to preliminary internal reviews.

Fueling the scandal further is the role of Jennifer Rauchet, a former Fox News producer with no official government position. According to The Guardian, Rauchet had previously joined Hegseth in meetings with senior foreign defense officials, including delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Critics argue that she wielded undue influence over defense matters despite lacking security clearance or formal authorization.

In response to the revelations, the Pentagon’s Inspector General has launched a formal investigation, Associated Press reports. Several senior officials are said to have already stepped down, and insiders claim that Hegseth himself is now under serious pressure to resign.

President Donald Trump downplayed the incident as a “misunderstanding,” but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are demanding accountability. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth called the leak a “potential top-level breach of national security protocols,” while Republican Senator Mitt Romney said that sharing classified information with unauthorized individuals “is unacceptable, regardless of who’s in the White House.”

The timing couldn’t be worse for the Trump administration, which is already under scrutiny for a string of cybersecurity lapses and covert operations in the Middle East. The Hegseth affair may now evolve into one of the administration’s most significant internal security scandals.

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APA