signalgate

The dismissals & turmoil around the inspector general’s investigation have raised tensions & prompted talk of more resignations, according to current & former #defense officials.

Among those considering leaving are Mr. Kasper, #Hegseth’s chief of staff, who helped lead the leak investigation that resulted in his colleagues’ dismissal but has not been implicated in wrongdoing, according to senior defense officials.

“The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the secretary of #defense & other #DoD personnel complied with DoD policies & procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business,” the acting inspector general, Steven Stebbins, said in a notification letter to #Hegseth.

It’s not clear whether Mr. Stebbins’s review has uncovered the #Signal chat that included Hegseth’s wife & other advisers.

Several of these staff members encouraged #Hegseth to move the work-related matters in the “Defense | Team Huddle” chat to his government phone. But Hegseth never made the transition, acc/to some of the people familiar w/the chat who spoke on condition of anonymity….

The #Pentagon’s acting inspector general announced earlier this month that he would review Hegseth’s Yemen strike disclosures on the #Signal chat that included top #Trump aides.

It was unclear how #Hegseth, a veteran & former Fox New host who before his confirmation in January had never previously served in a high-level government position, responded to those warnings.

Many of those in Hegseth’s inner circle during his first months in the #Pentagon were combat veterans w/deep experience in the #military but little firsthand knowledge of how the government operates at the highest levels.

One person familiar with the chat said #Hegseth’s aides had warned him a day or two before the Yemen strikes not to discuss such sensitive operational details in his Signal group chat, which, while encrypted, is not considered as secure as government channels typically used for discussing highly sensitive war planning and combat operations.

Jennifer Hegseth has drawn attention for the access her husband has given her. #Hegseth brought her into two meetings with foreign #military counterparts in February and early March where sensitive information was discussed, a development first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

#NationalSecurity #Trump #Signal #Signalgate
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/hegseth-brought-his-wife-to-sensitive-meetings-with-foreign-military-officials-c16db0ea

While the #Signal chat created by Waltz for snr ofcls was criticized for sharing details of a #military op on an encrypted but unclassified app, the participants — other than Goldberg of The Atlantic, who appears to have been added accidentally — were snr govt ofcls w/reason to track the progress of the attack.
But some of the participants in the group chat created by #Hegseth were not ofcls w/any apparent need to be given real-time info on details of the op.
#NationalSecurity #Trump #Signalgate