Hegseth Reportedly Had Unsecured Internet Access In His Office

April 24The Associated Press reported Hegseth had the unsecured internet connection—which has been used by other Pentagon officials, but can increase the likelihood of information being hacked—installed to use Signal on a personal computer. (A Pentagon spokesperson told the AP that Hegseth’s communications systems are classified, but that “the Secretary has never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer.”)

April 22Hegseth did not deny he shared information in a second Signal chat about Houthi strikes when asked about it by reporters, but he said he only shared “informal, unclassified coordinations.”

April 21The New York Times reported Hegseth shared detailed information about Yemen strikes against Houthis in a second chat on the same day he shared the information in a chat with Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, though this time it was in a private Signal group with around a dozen people including his wife, brother and lawyer that Hegseth had created.

April 20John Ullyot, a former chief Pentagon spokesperson, published an opinion piece in Politico alleging it had “been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon” and “the building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.”

April 16Two Pentagon staffers, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, were put on administrative leave, and they along with ex-Hegseth adviser Dan Caldwell released a statement three days later saying they had not been told why they were being investigated and were “incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service” at the Pentagon ended.

April 15Caldwell—a key Hegseth adviser who Hegseth had named as the best point of contact in the Signal chat about the Yemen strikes—was placed on administrative leave for “an unauthorized disclosure.”

April 3The inspector general of the Defense Department began an “evaluation” into Hegseth’s use of Signal at the request of the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., respectively, to determine whether any DoD policies were broken or classified information was shared.

March 31White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the “case has been closed … as far as we are concerned” and that “there have been steps made to ensure that something like that can obviously never happen again,”

March 26The Atlantic published screenshots of the messages sent on Signal from Hegseth and other officials that detailed attack plans for strikes on the Houthis, including precise launch times, descriptions of targets and weaponry.

March 24Hegseth denied he had sent classified information and said “nobody was texting war plans” and suggested Goldberg was “deceitful and highly discredited,” though a National Security Council spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the group Goldberg said he was added to.

March 24Goldberg published an article alleging he was unintentionally included in a chat on Signal in which Hegseth and other top Trump administration officials discussed sensitive plans to attack Houthi targets in Yemen.