By Alexander Ward and Nancy A. Youssef
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used Signal more extensively for official Pentagon business than previously disclosed, engaging in at least a dozen separate chats, people familiar with his management practices said.
In one case, he told aides on the encrypted app to inform foreign governments about an unfolding military operation, the people said. He also used the nongovernmental message service to discuss media appearances, foreign travel, his schedule, and other unclassified but sensitive information, two people said.
The former Fox News host set up many of the chats himself, sending texts from an unsecured line in his Pentagon office and from his personal phone, the two said.
Some of Hegseth’s messages were posted by his military aide, Marine Col. Ricky Buria, who was given access to the secretary’s personal phone, the people said. It was Buria who posted information in March about an imminent U.S. attack on Houthi militants in Yemen into a Signal chat group that included the secretary’s wife, brother, and private lawyer, the people said.
Hegseth’s frequent use of the app in his daily duties and Buria’s role in posting information on his behalf haven’t been previously reported.
The Pentagon and Buria didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Acting Pentagon Inspector General Steven Stebbins announced last month that he was investigating Hegseth’s use of Signal after the disclosure by Atlantic magazine that the secretary had posted information about the Yemen strikes in a chat involving senior administration officials. Similar information posted in the separate chat that included Hegseth’s family members is also part of the inspector general inquiry.
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