Did you know that United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a member of Sleeper.com, a fantasy football betting site? Or that he thinks the staff of some random dental office is “amazing”? We shouldn’t know, but we do thanks to Hegseth’s messy digital habits. In a continuation of “Signalgate”, new reports indicate that not only was Hegseth’s personal phone number (which he used for Signal) easily accessible online, but he also had the app installed on Pentagon devices.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that three sources confirmed Hegseth had Signal installed on a desktop computer. To do so, Hegswerth used an unsecured “dirty” internet line to bypass security protocols. Although Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, reportedly told the Post that Hegseth “has never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer”, additional sources told the AP News that he sometimes had three office computers — including a personal one on which he installed the messaging app.
Per the Post, Hegseth wanted Signal on his computer to get around the Pentagon’s poor cell service. In addition, Hegseth was eyeing installing a program to let him send conventional text messages. Keep in mind that the Pentagon banned personal devices like cellphones and laptops in classified spaces several years ago due to security concerns.
Hegseth’s obsession with Signal would be funny if he weren’t, you know, a high-ranking government official. But these updates come after Hegseth already accidentally texted Yemen war plans to the head editor of the Atlantic in March. That oops prompted an investigation from the Defense Department’s inspector general’s office. Then, earlier this week, the New York Times also reported that Hegseth shared sensitive war information with his family via Signal. (Hegseth and the White House have downplayed both leaks by saying none of the information was classified.)
As if all of that wasn’t already bad enough, the Times found that Hegseth’s personal cell phone (which he used for Signal) is easily accessible online. You can trace it to Airbnb, Microsoft Teams, and even an email address that is also linked to a Google Maps profile. Mike Casey, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Services, told the Times, “There’s zero percent chance that someone hasn’t tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on his phone. He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage.”
In addition to security concerns, Signal’s automatic deletion of messages after thirty days means that Hegseth and other federal agencies who use it may be in violation of the Federal Records Act. As Chioma Chukwu, interim Executive Director of American Oversight, which filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, said, “It is now evident the administration’s unlawful use of Signal to conduct — and delete — sensitive government business is a feature and not a bug…This case concerns a clear and urgent threat to the preservation of government records.”
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