Defense Head Said to Send War Plan to Second Group

Hegseth's Family Members and Lawyer Are Linked to an Encrypted Chat

Author

Matt Davis
April 21, 2025

Oops

It’s a good job the Pope died this morning, because otherwise I wouldn’t have liked Pete Hegseth’s chances of surviving the week.

I mean obviously it’s never good for a Pope to die. Apart from maybe the last one, given the huge protection he afforded for kiddy-fiddlers. And even then. But…you know what I mean. It’s good for moving the news cycle along, and frankly I’m pleased it’s a dead pope (🪦 may he rest in peace) and not another round of tariffs or whatever else the Trump administration might have been tempted to try for the same outcome. It’s also a good job the last person the dead pope met with was this guy:

“Don’t worry, I’m gonna tell God all about your sorry ass when I meet him tomorrow.”

Anyway, here’s the story everybody loved to see on Sunday night (and no, it’s not the Golden State Warriors beating the Houston Rockets in game one of the playoffs, although go, dubs!):

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat.

Ruh-roh. Let’s state the obvious in paragraph five, shall we?

The previously unreported existence of a second Signal chat in which Mr. Hegseth shared highly sensitive military information is the latest in a series of developments that have put his management and judgment under scrutiny.

Unlike the other chat in which The Atlantic was mistakenly included, the newly revealed one was created by Mr. Hegseth, the story reports:

“It included his wife and about a dozen other people from his personal and professional inner circle in January, before his confirmation as defense secretary, and was named “Defense | Team Huddle,” the people familiar with the chat said. He used his private phone, rather than his government one, to access the Signal chat.”

I have a private signal chat with my wife called “Bookshelf | Team Huddle.” It’s all about drawing a boundary for our kid when it comes to his delight in pulling every single book off his bookshelf and then laughing about it and saying “uh-oh.” But the stakes of that chat are somewhat lower.

“SPLASH!”

Although seriously. It’s more annoying than it is cute at this point. Apparently this new signal chat was just a place for Mr. Hegseth to chat about stuff other than top secret war plans, and yet. You know what they say about the best-made plans.

Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, did not respond to several requests for comment before this article was published. Then he went on social media:

“Another day, another old story — back from the dead,” he wrote. “There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story.”

Thing is, this isn’t the same old story. It’s a different, much more damning story. And if it weren’t for the dead Pope thing, I’d say it could run and run. The people in this new Signal chat were a lot more unreliable than the unreliable people in the first one.

The chat also included two senior advisers to Mr. Hegseth — Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick — who were accused of leaking unauthorized information last week and were fired.

Meanwhile on Sunday, another former Defense Department official said in an opinion essay for Politico that the Pentagon “is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership” and suggested that Mr. Trump should remove him. Here’s an extract from that piece:

The president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon. Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department.

Oh, damn. He said “mishegoss” in italics. He said “mishegoss!” For those of us less fluent in Yiddish…

"Mishegoss" is a Yiddish word that means craziness, senseless behavior, or activity. It's often used in a light, amused, or even playful way to describe a wacky belief or an irrational fixation. The word is derived from the Hebrew word "meshuga," which means "crazy" or "mad". 

Personally I would say that Pete Hegseth’s running of the pentagon is all fakakta, possibly because he’s so often ferschnicket. Oy, vey. But whatever. The Democrats have done as they should do and said it’s a fresh sign that Hegseth should be fired. In particular because he seems to have ignored advice on this specific issue.

One person familiar with the chat said Mr. 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.

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

I think that’s a passive-aggressive way of saying Mr. Hegseth ignored those warnings. The Times is so funny when it’s trying not to swag all over people. It’s like your grandma saying “that’s an interesting outfit” when you should take. That outfit. Off.

You know, reading this? I’m convinced the source of the story was probably one of the leakier aides Mr. Hegseth fired last week, and good for them. If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. Otherwise assume they’re going to call the New York Times when you annoy them. That’s the way the fourth estate is supposed to hold government accountable in a democracy!

The White House’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday:

“The president absolutely has confidence in secretary Hegseth. I spoke to him about it this morning, and he stands strongly behind him.”

Confidence, huh? Not “full confidence?” Not the “utmost confidence?” Just “confidence?”

That means the guy will decide to resign at some point tomorrow to avoid becoming a distraction, right? Assuming the news cycle hasn’t moved on by then, I mean. Right?

Say, is there a story on the front page that might cheer me up a bit?

You mean apart from the lead news story? Sure. Let’s read this piece about the Detroit Pistons recovering their form after a terrible season last year. Just don’t call them “Bad Boys” again just yet. To do that, Isiah Thomas would have to kick Doc Rivers in the head again, like he did in ‘93.

Do you ever wish somebody would do the same to Pete Hegseth?

Matt Davis lives in Manhattan with his wife and kid.

Standard disclaimer: I read the top story in the New York Times every morning so that you don’t have to. If you were forwarded this, you can subscribe here. I’m also doing a five-minute video version of this, each weekday morning at around 9 a.m. (depending on how long it takes me to read the newspaper). If you’d like to follow me on LinkedIn (you can always watch the recording later). If you subscribe to my Youtube channel it’ll also send you a notification when I’m “going live.”