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Information about U.S. strikes in Yemen that the defense secretary put in two group chats came from Central Command, according to two people familiar with the chats.
- April 22, 2025, 4:23 p.m. ET
Details about American strikes in Yemen that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared on a commercial chat app came from U.S. Central Command through a secure, government system designed for sending classified information, according to an official and a person familiar with the conversations.
The chats last month on the Signal app contained the times and sequencing for the launches of American fighter jets. A journalist as well as Mr. Hegseth’s wife, brother and personal lawyer were included in the chats.
The Atlantic reported more than a month ago that its editor had been inadvertently included in one Signal chat group about the strikes before they took place. On Sunday, The New York Times reported that the defense secretary also revealed information about the Yemen strikes in a second group chat.
Mr. Hegseth has not acknowledged any wrongdoing.
The Pentagon’s acting inspector general announced earlier this month that he would review Mr. Hegseth’s Yemen strike disclosures on Signal.
Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee, and the committee’s senior Democrat, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, requested the review. In a letter last month, the senators asked the inspector general to “conduct an inquiry” into whether Mr. Hegseth had shared sensitive or classified information in the first group chat.
In an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, Mr. Hegseth continued to press a semantic argument.
“I said repeatedly, nobody is texting war plans,” he said. “What was shared over Signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things.”
