Pete Hegseth Reportedly Set Up Signal on Several Pentagon Computers to Circumvent Restrictions
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly had the messaging app Signal set up on several Pentagon office computers in an effort to get around a ban on personal phones.
According to the Washington Post, which cited three unnamed sources “familiar with the matter,” Hegseth directed the installation of Signal on his computer following “a discussion among Hegseth and his aides about how they could circumvent the lack of cellphone service in much of the Pentagon,” as well as a personal phone ban in certain areas, to “more quickly coordinate with the White House and other top Trump officials using the encrypted app.”
A spokesman for Hegseth denied the claims, telling the Washington Post that the secretary of defense had “never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer.”
Two unnamed sources also told the Washington Post that Hegseth also had Signal installed on a second office computer.
The New York Times also spoke to several unnamed sources who made the same claims about Hegseth’s use of Signal in the Pentagon.
“Hegseth had the consumer messaging app Signal set up on a computer in his office at the Pentagon so that he could send and receive instant messages in a space where personal cellphones are not permitted,” reported the Times, which added that the secretary of defense “has two computers in his office, one for personal use and one that is government-issued.”
A source also told the Times that Hegseth “had cables installed in early March so that he could connect a private computer to Signal.”
The Pentagon launched a probe into Hegseth’s use of the app earlier this month after it was revealed that Hegseth and other senior members of the Trump administration, including Vice President JD Vance, had used a Signal group chat to discuss secret war plans in Yemen.
The group chat was discovered after The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to the confidential group chat.
This week, Hegseth became embroiled in another Signal scandal after the New York Times reported that he had used the app to share sensitive information about the U.S. military’s bombing campaign in Yemen with his wife, brother, and lawyer.
