Washington – Pentagon’s internal watchdog has obtained evidence that the messages sent from the signal account of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were included in details from a classified email, according to two senior American officials with knowledge of the case.
Chat messages listed information about a planned American bombing operation in Yemen in March, and a signal group sent several officials of the Trump administration – which became public when a reporter was inadvertently added to the chat. At that time, the administration officials denied that any classified information was shared in the chat.
The major information in the messages was taken from a classified email, marked “Secret // Noforn”, both officials who both requested oblivion to talk about the ongoing investigation into the top officials of the Trump administration.
The “secret” designation means that the information was classified and the disclosure of this information could potentially cause serious damage to national security, potentially endangered the safety of the service members. “Noforn” label means that information can only be broadcast to American agencies and individuals, except foreign nationals and even closing American colleagues.
Washington Post First Informed Inspector General, who received evidence about the office of the office of the Defense Department on Wednesday.
Contacted by CBS News on Wednesday, the Inspector General’s Office said it would not comment about the ongoing oversight projects. In April, Defense Department IG Announced that it would evaluate The use of the Defense Secretary of Commercial Message applications for the official business and whether his office has complied with classification and record retention requirements.
Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement, “The department stands behind its previous statements: no classified information was shared through the signal.” He also called the reporting on the use of the secretary of the signal app “so old and bad, which is similar to the mental state of Biden.”
Trump administration officials have faced a staunch investigation since the existence of signal chat messages Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was accidentally added to the Signal Chat Group by the then National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. In the Signal Chat Group, Trump officials have repeatedly denied that the classified information was shared in the group.
But with the knowledge of the evidence received by the Watchdog Office of Pentagon, two US officials on Wednesday told CBS News that the information posted in the encrypted signal chat group was obtained by Hegseth from a classified email sent by General Michael “Eric” Kurila to dozens of defense officers. Kurila oversees the US Central Command, which is the Primary Defense Department Organization responsible for conducting US military operations in the Middle East.
Atlantic Published screenshot It was said that Signal was from chat, which was shown to Hegseth, sharing a timidline of the planned attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen. It listed the time of two sets of F -18 launch and strike, a set of drone strikes and some Tomahawk missile strikes.
According to the magazine, “Just W/ CentCom was confirmed, we are one for the mission launch.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Parnell said In April 1 statement: “There was no classified information in any signal chat, whether they try to write the story.” They did after that claim Reporting showed Hegseth also shared the details in a separate signal chat that included his family members.
National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe – both members of the chat group appeared – Also told MPs That classified material was not shared in March.
Ratcliffe stated that the signal is “an permissible use” application approved by the White House for use by senior authorities, and the group chat “was a mechanism to communicate between senior level officials, but is not an option to use high side or classified communication.”
Defense secretary as per federal rules, Information has the right to reduce, but after the message surfaced, Hegseth When asked by reporters, he did not answer whether he took that approach Before sharing the information on the signal.
“Nobody was texting war plans,” Hegseth Told reporters in March.
Signal is one Free message app It is popular due to high levels of encryption, which prevents people from looking at messages other than sectors or recipients.
The human error remains a vulnerability for the signal and other encrypted apps, as the episodes involved in the Hegseth performed. And in February, the National Security Agency warned its employees that the Russian hacking groups were using fishing messages to get access to the accounts of the users, which allowed them to see the activity of the victims, according to the documents obtained, according to the documents obtained, CBS News earlier this year.
