US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been embroiled in controversy after a chat he had with a family member about the strategic plan for military operations against the Houthi rebel group in Yemen was leaked.
Hegseth published the details of the US airstrikes in Yemen in the group of social network Signal . According to CBS News, the group included his wife, brother and personal attorney.
The message sent on March 15 contained the flight schedule of F/A-18 Hornets tasked with attacking Houthi targets. The group includes Hegseth's wife, Jennifer. Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, is not currently in any official Defense Department role.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that Jennifer joined the defense minister on official foreign trips and attended high-level meetings with international leaders. Then he was severely criticized.
Also in the chat group are Hegseth's brother, Phil Hegseth, and Tim Parlatore, the defense minister's longtime personal lawyer. Although both of them are in positions in the Pentagon, both of them do not need advance information on strategic military planning, according to American media.
Previously, a secret plan was revealed in another signal group where Hegseth was a member. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was also a member of the group. Soon after, there was widespread interest and concern about how senior officials handled sensitive military information.
