Key Takeaways
- New reports reveal that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth participated in a second Signal group chat leaking America’s strike plans on Yemen.
- This follows reports last month that a U.S. journalist was added to a Signal thread with top U.S. government officials.
- President Donald Trump previously defended his administration and its use of the platform.
A former Pentagon spokesperson says the U.S. Department of Defense has descended into “total chaos” over the past month.
Last month, The Atlantic released an article detailing how its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had been inadvertently added to a group chat with Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Vice President JD Vance.
The incident, which came shortly before the U.S. attacked Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, reportedly revealed “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing” to the journalist.
Just one month later, details emerged of a second group chat receiving strike plans, including those of Hegseth’s wife, brother, and personal lawyer.
Second Signal Chat
On Sunday, April 20, the New York Times released a report citing four sources familiar with the messages, revealing that Signal group chat messages were sent on March 15.
The messages included flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen, the sources said.
Hegseth’s brother and personal lawyer currently hold positions in the Department of Defense (DoD), but it is not currently clear why they would require access to sensitive war plans.
Jennifer Rauchet, Hegseth’s wife and a Fox News producer, does not hold a position in the White House.
Former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot said in an opinion piece for Politico magazine that the DoD had been in “total chaos” over the past month.
“In short, the building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership,” Ullyot said.
Adding: “The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president – who deserves better from his senior leadership.”
Judge Orders Preservation of All Messages
The new reports come just under a month since the revelation that a U.S. journalist was accidentally added to a group chat detailing sensitive war plans.
Last month, a federal judge ordered that the Trump administration preserve all Signal messages exchanged in the first Signal group chat.
James Boasberg, the chief U.S. district judge in Washington, said his order was to ensure no messages from the group chat were lost, as all messages were set to delete after a certain time.
The federal judge said his order was not currently due to the Trump administration doing anything wrong.
Boasberg will decide later whether the administration violated federal record laws by using Signal’s disappearing message function.
NSA Warns Against Signal
In February, the NSA sent its employees a bulletin titled “Signal Vulnerability,” claiming the messaging application had been the target of espionage activity.
“A vulnerability has been identified in the Signal Messenger Application. The use of Signal by common targets of surveillance and espionage activity has made the application a high value target to intercept sensitive information,” the bulletin read, viewed by CBS News.
The NSA bulletin warned employees not to send “anything compromising over any social media or Internet-based tool or application.”
Russian hacking groups were also noted as threats to look out for, as the NSA claimed they were deploying phishing scams to access encrypted conversations.
Multiple Warnings
In the same month, the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) said in a report that multiple Russia-aligned threat actors were observing individuals interested in Signal to gain access to their accounts.
“The most novel and widely used technique underpinning Russian-aligned attempts to compromise Signal accounts is the abuse of the app’s legitimate linked devices feature that enables Signal to be used on multiple devices concurrently,” GTIG said.
Google’s threat teams spotted the attacks, which used QR codes to link victims to a hacked Signal instance.
This allowed the victim’s messages to be delivered to both the victim and the hacker in real-time, allowing bad actors to view all messages being sent and received.
Signal responded to the claims on Tuesday, stating that there was “misinfo flying around that might drive people away from Signal and private communications.”
“The memo used the term ‘vulnerability’ in relation to Signal—but it had nothing to do with Signal’s core tech. It was warning against phishing scams targeting Signal users,” it wrote on X.
“Phishing isn’t new, and it’s not a flaw in our encryption or any of Signal’s underlying technology,” the group added. “Phishing attacks are a constant threat for popular apps and websites.”
Donald Trump Defends Signal
On Tuesday, March 25, President Donald Trump played down the incident’s threat to national security and defended the administration’s use of Signal.
“There was no classified information, as I understand it, they used an app if you want to call it an app. That’s an app that a lot of people use,” he told reporters.
The president added that Signal was “the best technology for the moment” and “used by the media a lot.”
Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has taken full responsibility for the incident, claiming the ordeal was “embarrassing.”
Talking to Fox News, Waltz said: “I take full responsibility. I built the group.”
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
