US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had an unsecured Internet connection set up in his Pentagon office so that he could bypass government security protocols and use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press.
ABC News also reported that Hegseth had what is known as a “dirty line” — what information technology professionals call a commercial Internet line that is used to connect to Web sites blocked by the Pentagon’s unclassified and classified lines.
Defense department computers connect to the Internet through two different systems: the secure Internet protocol router network, also known as “SIPRNet,” which is the Pentagon’s network for classified information, and the non-classified Internet protocol router network, also known as “NiprNet,” which handles unclassified information.
Photo: Reuters
The fact that Hegseth was evading Pentagon security filters to connect to the Internet this way raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.
At times, there were three computers around Hegseth’s desk — a personal computer, another for classified information and a third for sensitive defense information, the sources said, adding that because electronic devices are vulnerable to spyware, no one is supposed to have them inside the defense secretary’s office.
The latest reporting continues a pattern of leaks about Hegseth’s use of Signal to text sensitive military information to a circle of family and friends. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Hegseth, a former Fox weekend anchor, directed the installation of Signal on a desktop computer in his Pentagon office.
US Department of Defense spokesperson Sean Parnell told news outlets: “We can confirm that the secretary has never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer.”
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Hegseth had shared sensitive operational information about strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen on a private Signal group chat he set up himself to communicate with his wife, brother, personal lawyer and nine associates.
In 2016, when it was reported that former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton used a private e-mail server to conduct official business during her tenure, Hegseth told Fox News that “any security professional — military, government or otherwise — would be fired on the spot for this type of conduct, and criminally prosecuted.”
“The fact that she would not be held accountable for this, I think, blows the mind of anyone who’s held our secrets dear, who’s had a top secret clearance, like I have,” he added.
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