A national security scandal involving senior US officials has intensified with the release of screenshots showing that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about airstrikes in Yemen via a messaging app.
The Pentagon leader used a group chat on Signal to communicate with other top Trump administration figures about imminent airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthis on 15 March this year.
Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, revealed the existence of the chat on Monday, explaining that he had mistakenly been added to the group by Michael Waltz, the US national security adviser.
Since Goldberg's bombshell piece was published, Democrats have called for Hegseth and Waltz to resign over what they have called a serious intelligence breach, while the Trump administration has sought to limit the fallout.
After Trump and his allies insisted that no classified information had been shared in the group, the Atlantic decided to publish the full transcript of the conversation on Wednesday.
In the course of the discussion, Hegseth listed the precise timings of US military operations against the Houthis, just hours before they were due to take place. He also detailed the weapons and aircraft that would be used.
In response to the latest revelations, Democrats have ramped up their demands for Hegseth to step down.
Andy Kim, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, posted on X: “This new Signal chat is shocking. Clearly incredibly sensitive and classified information.”
“As someone who worked in the Situation Room before, I cannot believe Hegseth would recklessly text info that could put a target on our pilots and service members. He needs to resign,” Kim wrote.
Jim Himes, a Democratic congressman representing Connecticut, thought it was lucky that the US’ enemies had not intercepted the messages and handed them to the Houthis.
“It’s by the awesome grace of god that we are not mourning dead pilots right now,” he said.
During an appearance before the House intelligence committee on Wednesday, Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, continued to insist that the country’s national security had not been endangered.
“There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared,” she said.
Hegseth, who is currently on a tour of the Indo-Pacific, has denied revealing “war plans”.
Analysts have questioned why Hegseth and his colleagues were using Signal, an encrypted messaging app, to exchange such sensitive information.
One day before the 15 March strikes against the Houthis, the defence department warned its staff about the vulnerability of Signal, saying Russia was trying to hack the app, according to an anonymous US official.
The US government has been targeting the Iran-backed group in Yemen over its attacks against ships in the Red Sea.
