US Secretary of Defense Pete Heget shared information about US Air strikes in a second private group in the signal app, the BBC US partner has confirmed with messages.
Communications sent on March 15 included US F/A-18 Hornets flight schedules running at Houthi's goals. The group included his wife, brother and personal Hegt lawyer.
The development comes a month after the existence of a separate signal group discussing sensitive information on military operations in the United States.
In a statement to The New York Times, which for the first time reported the second group, the White House said no classified information was shared.
Heget's wife, Jennifer, is a former Fox News producer and holds an official position in the Pentagon. Early Heget was criticized for the fact that, according to his messages, his wife in meetings with foreign leaders.
His brother, Phil and personal lawyer Tim Palatorore hold positions at the Ministry of Defense. But it is not clear why one of the three will require extended warnings for sensitive impact plans in the United States.
Unlike the first signal group, the second – called “Defense | Team Huddle” – was created by heget, according to the New York Times.
The existence of a larger signaling group was revealed by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of Atlantic magazine, which was accidentally included in it. Employees similarly used this group to discuss strike information in Yemen.
The White House has denied that classified information has been discussed in this group, although critics of heget – including former US defense officials – call into question that. It is said that discussing such information in signaling groups may endanger US staff performing military operations.
The existence of the second alert group is the latest dispute over the Pentagon's head, which this year controls a $ 892 billion budget (£ 670 billion).
Last week, Heget fired three senior officials for “unauthorized disclosure” – an accusation that employees said it was “unfounded”.
In OP-ED for Politico, published on Sunday, John Ullyot, a former spokesman for the top Pentagon, who resigned last week, writes that the department is in Total Chaos.
“Dysfunction is already a big distraction for the president – who deserves better than his higher leadership,” Ulot added.
However, in a statement about X, Sean Parnell, a current Pentagon spokesman, has accused the Trump-hated media of destroying anyone engaged in President Trump's agenda.
He sounded the White House, saying that “no chat signal has been classified.”
Washington says his strikes in Yemen are punishment for Huti attacks against cargo ships passing through the Red Sea, a critical water road to international trade.
Since November 2023, Huti has been targeting dozens of commercial vessels with rockets, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They have sank two ships, seized others and killed four crew members.
The Hutists said they were acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and claimed – often false – that they were targeted only to ships related to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom.
The US air struck an oil terminal in northwestern Yemen this week killed at least 74 people and wounds 171 others, according to Huti's Health Ministry. The Huti government said the attack was a “war crime”.