Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may have broken the law by using a civilian app to share extremely sensitive war plans, a former military attorney has said.
Why It Matters
There has been an enormous fallout after an editor at The Atlantic magazine revealed that he was included in Hegseth’s group chat ahead of the U.S bombing of Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Newsweek sought email comment on Tuesday from the National Security Council and the Department of Defense.
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What To Know
In an article for The Atlantic published online on Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, wrote that he had been accidentally invited to the group chat with top members of the White House national security team and wrote that he’d “never seen a breach quite like this.”
Goldberg wrote that on March 13, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz added him to a Signal group chat called “Houthi PC small group.”
Goldberg wrote that the conversation in the Signal group chat culminated in Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sharing highly sensitive and classified details about the Pentagon’s plan to carry out military air strikes against the Houthis, who have been launching attacks on Western commercial vessels in the Red Sea for more than a year.
What People Are Saying
David French, a former military attorney, wrote an article in The New York Times on March 25 in which he wrote that Hegseth could potentially be facing criminal charges.
“I don’t know how Pete Hegseth can look service members in the eye. He’s just blown his credibility as a military leader,” French wrote.
French is a former attorney with the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG Corps) and is very familiar with prosecuting military officers for breach of security.
“This would be a stunning breach of security. I’m a former Army JAG officer (an Army lawyer). I’ve helped investigate numerous allegations of classified information spillages, and I’ve never even heard of anything this egregious — a secretary of defense intentionally using a civilian messaging app to share sensitive war plans without even apparently noticing a journalist was in the chat,” French wrote.
“There is not an officer alive whose career would survive a security breach like that. It would normally result in instant consequences (relief from command, for example) followed by a comprehensive investigation and, potentially, criminal charges.”
New York attorney Colleen Kerwick told Newsweek that she does not envision criminal charges against Hegseth.
“His conduct grossly deviated from the standard of care expected of a Defense Secretary. The inadvertent inclusion of a journalist on a Signal Chat showed a reckless disregard for the safety of the military.
“While the harm was likely unintentional, the negligent behavior still posed a threat to the safety of the military.
“However, nobody was harmed and this doesn’t meet the elements of a crime,” she said.
What Happens Next
Democrats are calling for an immediate investigation into the leak.
Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement that the leak was “completely outrageous and shocks the conscience.” He called for House Republicans to join “in a swift, serious and substantive investigation into this unacceptable and irresponsible national security breach.”