Spying threat to Pentagon heightened by Hegseth's use of group chat, say experts

As more develops about the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, and his repeated disclosures of sensitive military intelligence in unsecured Signal group chats, there are growing concerns his behaviour has weakened the Pentagon in the eyes of its foreign adversaries and made him and his entourage a top espionage target.

- Ben Makuch

Allies, already concerned by Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs, have also begun to see the US as an intelligence-sharing liability. There are fears that the mounting firings and leak inquiries in Hegseth's orbit, along with his inability to manage these internal crises, exposes the entire global US war footing - especially, if a geopolitical and external crisis comes across his desk.

What if "a foreign entity, whether it be a state actor or non-state actor, is able to intercept the movements of troops or department personnel, or something like that, capture them and hold them to ransom?" said Kristofer Goldsmith, an Iraq war veteran and CEO of the veterans' association Task Force Butler. "That kind of thing could very easily happen."

Earlier in the week, news broke that Hegseth had personally created a Signal group chat including his wife, brother and about a dozen other people who he then texted highly sensitive information on active strikes in Yemen. Previously, he discussed similar intelligence in a group chat on the same app, which included top officials in the Trump administration and a journalist from the Atlantic.