According to a new Wall Street Journal report, the wife of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegses attended two meetings with the Foreign Defense Secretary, where sensitive information was discussed.
The Journal’s report on Hegseth arrived Friday as he faced scrutiny to detail plans for a military strike in a signal group chat, published by Atlantic journalists added to the chat. While several Democrats called for him to resign, a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to the Department of Defense to ask for an investigation into group chat.
According to the journal, Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer Hegseth, attended two meetings where sensitive information was discussed, citing multiple people who attended meetings and had knowledge of her presence.
The first meeting reportedly was a high-level discussion at the Pentagon with British top military officials, including British Defense Secretary John Healy, and John Healy, held in early March, a day after the US announced it would stop sharing military intelligence with Ukraine.
The second was in Brussels at NATO headquarters in Brussels in mid-February, and reportedly took place during a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Liaison Group. This is a forum of about 50 countries that will help coordinate Ukraine’s military support to combat Russian invasions, launched in 2022.
The Secretary of Defense has the discretion to invite someone to meet with foreigners, but officials cited by the journal said people attending these types of meetings usually have a high level of security clearance. Defence personnel spouses sometimes receive low levels of security clearance, but it is unclear whether Hegses’ wife has clearance.
Hegseth’s wife is a former producer of the network television show Fox & Friends, and Hegseth was co-host in 2017. The couple got married in 2019.
According to the journal, Hegses also brought his brother, Philip Hegses, on an official visit. Philip Hegses took his brother to Guantanamo Bay and is currently with him during his Asia tour of Hegses.
The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. In a statement to the Journal, department spokesman Sean Parnell said, “It’s pretty clear to me that (the journal) stories are filled with inaccuracies and not written in sincerity.”
Chuck Hagel, a former Republican secretary who served under Barack Obama, told the magazine that national security authorities must be careful about who they invite to meet with foreigners.
“If you’re going to discuss the best secret national security issues, you have to be very selective,” Hagel said. “What is the relationship between the people you are inviting?”
The Pentagon has largely fixed the responsibility for signal group chat leaks to national security adviser Mike Waltz, but Hegses’ ability to handle the sensitive nature of his work as the country’s finest military personnel has also been questioned. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered officials, including Hegseth, to hold all messages in the signal group chat.
Republicans have largely defended Hegus and brushed away group chat fiasco in public. However, reports suggest that some people are personally concerned about Hegses’ behavior.
“You’re not going to hear the huge public’s protest,” an anonymous GOP official told Politico. “But personally, I have a lot of concern about his judgment.”
