Probe began in the conversation of the Minister of Defense on Yemen’s attacks

Washington: The Pentagon Inspector General’s office announced on Thursday that it has opened a research on Defense Minister Pete Hegseth from an unracutied application of commercial messages to coordinate the extremely sensitive March 15 strikes in Houthis.

In a Memorandum addressed to Hegseth, the Inspector’s Office said it would consider whether the use of Hegseth Met Defense Department’s guidelines, including those related to classified information.

Hegseth has repeatedly said that no classified information was disclosed in the conversation, although it included precise times for the start of US air strikes and some targeting details considered as closely guarded secrets in front of a stunning military operation such as Yemen.

The details of the conversation were revealed last week by the Atlantic magazine after his editor -in -chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, incorrectly included in the debate, causing an annoying incident involving all senior national security officials.

The case has also renewed control of Hegseth, who only won a close confirmation of the Senate following a bruise revision that raised serious questions about his experience, temperament and views on women in the fight.

“The purpose of this assessment is to identify the extent to which the Minister of Defense and other Dod staff complied with DOD’s policies and procedures for using a commercial messages for official businesses,” wrote Steven Stebbins, the Inspector General.

“In addition, we will review compliance with the sorting and recording requirements.”

Hegseth sent a text on plans to kill a Houthi fighter leader in Yemen two hours before the military operation began and included precise details on when the F-18 fighter aircraft would start, as well as sea-based cruise rockets.

‘Cean in Opsc’

Hegseth’s text began with the title “Update Team” and included these details, according to the Atlantic:

“Time Now (1144 et): The weather is favorable. Once it has confirmed with Centcom we are a move to launch the mission”

“1215 et: F-18s Launch (1st Strike Package)”

“1345:” Trigger Based “F-18 begins the 1st strike window (the terrorist is @ his well-known location, so he must be in time-also, the strike drones launch (MQ-9s)”

“1410: More starting F-18s (2nd strike)”

“1415.

“1536 F-18 2nd strike begins-also, the first sea-based sea began.”

Towards the end of the text chain, Hegseth said the mission was “clean in OPEN” – an acronym for operational security – no leaks, even though the journalist was in the text chain.

If Houthi’s leaders knew that a strike was coming, they might have been able to leave, possibly in busy areas where targeting is more difficult and the number of possible civilians can be considered too high to proceed.

The leading Democrat in the Senate Pentagon’s Supervisory Committee, Jack Reed, said that a leak could endanger us pilots.

“The potentially fatal consequences of the Hegseth secretary’s error are cooled,” Reed said in a statement.

“He had intelligence in his messages by Houthis or another opponent. It would allow them to re -establish weapons to target our pilots with dangerously accurate intelligence.”

In a sign of sensitivity, the US Army Central Administration has given much less details to the public than usual about its continued operations in Yemen, including basic information such as the number of strikes so far.

Asked about details of the campaign, which began on March 15, an employee of the defense – providing a written response under the condition of anonymity – toast Reuters:

“Centcom will not provide details of the strikes until the business is completed and there is no additional risk to US personnel or assets involved.”

Stebbins, the Inspector General, said the revision would take place in Washington, DC, and the headquarters of the central administration in Tampa, Florida.

“We ask to set two points of contact for this assessment within five days,” he wrote in the note, which also addressed Hegseth’s Deputy Steve Feinberg.

While it is rare for the Inspector General to investigate a US defense minister, the office recently examined Hegseth’s predecessor, President Joe Biden’s defense minister, Lloyd Austin, over last year’s secret hospitalization.

Stebbins became the January Inspector General, January, after Trump shot the previous head of the independent watchdog of the Department of Defense and other observers of the service throughout the government during his first week.