Hegseth Signal messages came from email classified
‘SECRET,’ watchdog told
The
revelation contradicts the Trump administration’s longstanding claims that no
classified information was shared by the defense secretary’s account during the
“Signalgate” scandal.
July 23, 2025 at 3:51
p.m. EDTtoday at 3:51 p.m. EDT
By Dan Lamothe
and
The Pentagon’s independent watchdog has received evidence
that messages from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Signal account previewing a
U.S. bombing campaign in Yemen derived from a classified email labeled
“SECRET/NOFORN,” people familiar with the matter said.
The revelation appears to contradict long-standing claims
by the Trump administration that no classified information was divulged in
unclassified group chats that critics have called a significant security
breach.
The messages about the bombing campaign, posted in at least
two group chats using the unclassified messaging app Signal, are the focus of
an inquiry by the Defense Department inspector general’s office requested in
April by Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services
Committee.
The strike plans had been shared in a classified email with
more than a dozen defense officials by Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the top
commander overseeing U.S. military operations in the Middle East, and then were
posted in the unclassified group chats by an account affiliated with Hegseth on
March 15, shortly before the United States began attacking Houthi militants,
the people familiar with the matter said.
The “SECRET” classification of Kurilla’s email, which has
not previously been reported, denoted that the information was classified at a
level at which unauthorized disclosure could be expected to cause serious
damage to national security. The “NOFORN” label means it also was not meant for
anyone who is a foreign national, including senior officials of close allies of
the United States.
In accordance with government regulations, Kurilla sent his
sensitive message over a classified system, the Secret Internet Protocol Router
Network, or SIPRNet, four people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the
condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal by the Trump administration.
The message included a rundown of strike plans for the day,
including when bombing was expected to begin and what kind of aircraft and
weapons were to be used. The disclosure of the sensitive information drew both
criticism and bewilderment because the group chat inadvertently included a
journalist from the Atlantic magazine who is a frequent critic of President
Donald Trump.
The scandal has caused numerous Democrats and
at least one Republican to
call for Hegseth’s firing, and dogged the defense secretary through a series of
congressional hearings in June. Senior administration officials have repeatedly
insisted that no classified information was shared on Signal, though national
security experts and former top military officials have said that is highly doubtful.
Administration officials doubled down on those claims in
new statements to The Washington Post, touting its actions in the military
campaign against the Houthis in Yemen earlier this year and more recently in
strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
“The Department stands behind its previous statements: no
classified information was shared via Signal,” said Sean Parnell, a Pentagon
spokesman, in an emailed statement. “As we’ve said repeatedly, nobody was
texting war plans and the success of the Department’s recent operations — from
Operation Rough Rider to Operation Midnight Hammer — are proof that our
operational security and discipline are top notch.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, pointed out that the
Houthis, a militant group long affiliated with Iran, have since agreed to a
ceasefire and criticized The Post for continuing to scrutinize what happened in
the Signal affair, even as the Defense Department inspector general continues
to do the same at the request of lawmakers.
“This Administration has proven that it can carry out
missions with precision and certainty, as evidenced by the successful
operations that obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities and killed terrorists,”
Kelly said in a statement.
Kelly added: “It’s shameful that the Washington
Post continues to publish unverified articles based on alleged emails they
haven’t personally reviewed in an effort to undermine a successful military
operation and resurrect a non-issue that no one has cared about for months.”
In seeking comment from the White House, The Post disclosed
that four people familiar with Kurilla’s email verified its SECRET/NOFORN
classification.
\
The apparent creator of the main Signal group at issue,
former White House national security adviser Michael Waltz, was ousted from his job less
than two months after the episode was revealed in March. Numerous top
administration officials were also part of the group chat, including Vice
President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Director of National
Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Waltz, now Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations, came under criticism last week during his confirmation hearing
for refusing to concede the unclassified group chat was a mistake.
“I was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of
regret over sharing what was very sensitive, timely information about a
military strike on a commercially available app,” said Sen. Chris Coons
(D-Delaware). “We both know Signal is not an appropriate and secure means of
communicating highly sensitive information.”
Waltz, who like Hegseth served as an Army officer before
entering politics, also insisted that “no classified information was shared.”
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a House Armed Services Committee hearing in June,
Hegseth, under questioning by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts), refused to say whether
the Yemen strike details later shared on Signal initially came to his office
over a classified system. The open event was not an appropriate venue to
address such questions, Hegseth argued.
“Classifications of any information in an ongoing operation
that was successful are not things that would be disclosed in a public forum,”
he said.
Moulton, a Marine Corps veteran, disputed that. “It’s not
classified to disclose whether or not it was classified,” the congressman said.
“And in fact, DoD regulations state that any classified information has to be
labeled with its classification.”
Moulton pressed Hegseth on whether he was trying to assert
that the information he received from Kurilla’s headquarters was unclassified.
Hegseth dodged.
“I’m not trying to say anything,” Hegseth responded.
The Defense Department inspector general’s office declined
to comment and has a general policy of not commenting on open cases.
Its review, whose findings are expected to be released
within a few months, poses another threat to Hegseth, whose six-month tenure as
defense secretary has been marked by infighting and dysfunction, including the
firing of numerous senior military officials and political appointees on
Hegseth’s own team and abrupt voluntary departures by
others.
Government regulations allow for the defense secretary to
declassify and downgrade classified information produced by the Pentagon, but
the Trump administration has yet to claim that such a process was carried out
before the sensitive information was shared over Signal. Two people familiar
with the evidence the inspector general’s office is reviewing said they were
aware of no such discussion having occurred before the scandal erupted.
NBC News reported in April about
the transfer of information from Kurilla’s message to the Signal chats, while
the Wall Street Journal reported in May that
the inspector general was scrutinizing one group chat that included Cabinet
officials and another that included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer; his brother,
Phil; and his personal attorney Tim Parlatore. Jennifer Hegseth has no official role in the Pentagon,
while Phil Hegseth has worked as a liaison on matters pertaining to the
Department of Homeland Security, and Parlatore serves as a part-time military
aide in addition to being Hegseth’s personal lawyer.
Part of the emphasis of the inspector general’s review will
be to establish who posted messages that may have been classified in the group
chat under Hegseth’s name, people familiar with the matter said. In addition to
the defense secretary, Marine Corps Col. Ricky Buria,
then a military aide to Hegseth, had access to his personal phone and sometimes
posted information on his behalf, officials familiar with the matter said.
Individuals interviewed by the inspector general said Buria told colleagues
that he typed the controversial Yemen texts into Hegseth’s phone, people
familiar with the matter said. Buria has not spoken publicly about the matter
and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Such information, before an operation, would generally
always be classified to protect the U.S. troops involved, security experts have said.
Retired Adm. William McRaven, the Navy SEAL officer who oversaw the raid that
killed al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, said in April that
Hegseth’s team has not handled the controversy well and “clearly, the
information broadcast on Signal was classified.”
U.S. troops at all ranks are instructed on how to handle
classified information, and some have faced disciplinary action on numerous
occasions for not doing so correctly, sometimes at courts-martial.
Buria abruptly submitted retirement paperwork in April and
has since become a de facto chief of staff to Hegseth, a political position. He
frequently appears at the defense secretary’s side. Trump and Hegseth
recently authorized Buria to retire from the
Marines as a colonel, bypassing federal law stating that, in most
cases, a military officer of his standing must serve three years at a rank to
retire with it.
Exceptions can be granted with a waiver, the law states, in
cases “involving extreme hardship or exceptional or unusual circumstances.”
People familiar with the issue said such waivers are rare and typically
reserved for difficult situations, such as a service member needing treatment
for cancer or another serious illness.
