Hegseth Leaked War Plans Again—This Time to His Wife and Lawyer

Turns out the Hegseth family plan wasn’t just for data—it included military ops.

When your Defense Secretary creates a Signal group chat to talk war plans, you'd hope it’s filled with…well, defense experts. Not his wife, his brother, and his lawyer.

But this is Pete Hegseth we’re talking about—former Fox News host, now head of the Pentagon under President Trump 2.0—who reportedly shared sensitive details of U.S. airstrikes in Yemen inside a private Signal group chat named “Defense | Team Huddle.” A chat he made. On his personal phone. That included his wife, a former Fox producer, his brother Phil, and longtime personal attorney Tim Parlatore.

Because nothing says operational security like texting your brother about fighter jet launch times.

According to four people familiar with the matter, the chat contained the same kinds of details Hegseth mistakenly shared in a different Signal group earlier that day—a group created by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz for senior officials across the administration. You know, the one that accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor, Jeffrey Goldberg.

So just to recap: on March 15, while prepping strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, Hegseth didn’t just hit “reply all” on one insecure Signal group. He sent the same sensitive info to two of them. One had top security officials (plus a journalist, whoops). The other had his wife.

What did Hegseth actually share? Reports say it included flight schedules for F/A-18 Hornets—the exact aircraft used in the attacks. That's the kind of information that, in the wrong hands, could endanger pilots’ lives.

But sure, according to Hegseth, “Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that.”

The Trump administration insisted no classified info was shared. The Pentagon's official stance? Nothing to see here. Even Tulsi Gabbard, now Director of National Intelligence, backed him up at a Senate hearing.

Still, former defense officials aren’t buying it. They say that even basic launch times and aircraft details count as classified—because leaking them can get people killed.

So, Who Was in This “Defense | Team Huddle”?

Let’s take attendance:

• Jennifer Hegseth: Pete’s wife, not a Pentagon employee. She’s a former Fox producer who’s attended sensitive meetings overseas with foreign military leaders. Not sketchy at all.

• Phil Hegseth: Pete’s brother, a DHS liaison inside the Pentagon. Also not in the chain of command for war planning.

• Tim Parlatore: Pete’s personal attorney, who was re-commissioned as a Navy JAG officer a week before the strikes. Not even back on the job yet.

• Joe Kasper: Chief of staff, still hanging on—for now.

• Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick: Senior advisers recently fired for allegedly leaking unauthorized info. Both deny wrongdoing.

• Sean Parnell: Chief Pentagon spokesman, also part of the chat. No comment.

This wasn’t some top-secret interagency thread. This was a personal chat group Hegseth started before he was even confirmed as Secretary of Defense. According to reports, his team repeatedly told him not to use the chat for military operations. In fact, aides specifically warned him just days before the Yemen strikes not to post sensitive operational details in that Signal chat.

And he did it anyway.

The Inspector General Steps In

After The Atlantic exposed the first Signal leak, the Pentagon’s acting inspector general, Steven Stebbins, launched an investigation. So far, it’s focused on the Waltz-created Signal thread that mistakenly included the press.

But the IG might not even know about this second Signal chat—the one Hegseth personally ran from his private phone. That one had nothing to do with national security coordination. It was a makeshift inner circle, used for informal scheduling and, apparently, war details.

Stebbins announced his review would examine whether Hegseth and others violated Department of Defense policies by using commercial messaging apps like Signal for official business. That’s a fancy way of saying: Why the hell are you texting airstrike info like it’s a group dinner plan?

Meanwhile, top aides are bailing. Caldwell, Selnick, and Colin Carroll were escorted out of the Pentagon after being accused of leaks. Kasper, who led the internal leak investigation, is now considering quitting himself.

This isn't just a communications screw-up. It’s a collapse in chain of command, basic cybersecurity, and judgment—all tied to a guy whose last job was complaining about “woke generals” on cable news.

The Bigger Picture

Hegseth isn’t just handing out access to military operations like it’s his March Madness bracket—he’s building a shadow network of loyalists with little regard for protocol.

This isn't just bad optics. It's dangerous. Sharing war-time intel with people who have no business seeing it doesn’t just break norms—it breaks the system designed to keep our military personnel safe.

You want to talk about leaks? The call is coming from inside the Huddle.