Current and former fighter pilots say the intelligence loophole is bad enough. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to admit that he should not disclose sensitive information about when American fighter pilots would attack Yemen’s locations, or worse.
In this week’s Air Airlines “off-the-shelf rooms” and neighborhoods near military bases, senior Trump administration officials discussed plans for upcoming attacks on signals, a commercial messaging app that angry and confused men and women who have represented the U.S. air attack.
Twelve Air Force and Navy fighter pilots said the mistakenly incorporated editors into the Atlantic, and Mr. Hegses insisted that he did nothing wrong as he disclosed a secret plan for decades of military doctrine about operational security.
What's worse, they move forward, they can no longer be sure that the Pentagon is focused on their safety when tied into the cockpit.
“The point about aviation safety is that you have to be humble to understand that you are imperfect because everyone is in trouble. Everyone makes mistakes,” said the former Navy F-14 pilot Lieutenant, who flew fighters from planes in the Persian Gulf. “But in the end, if you can’t admit when you were wrong, you’re going to kill someone because you’re too big of an ego.”
He and other pilots said that since Monday, when the Atlantic published articles about chat disclosures, it has brought amazing new revelations every day. First, Mr. Hegseth placed Mr. Hegseth in an unclassified signal group chat on March 15, targeting Houthi Maritia in Yemen, which included several other senior officials.
“We deliberately do not share plans with people who don't need to know,” said a Navy F/A-18 pilot who often flies on missions in the Middle East. “You don't share the time we should be on the target. You don't want the telegram we're going to be on someone's doorstep; that puts your crew at risk.” He and several other current and former pilots spoke anonymously to avoid revenge from the Pentagon and President Trump's allies.
But then was Mr. Heggs' initial response to the disclosure. He attacked Mr. Goldberg with a “so-called journalist” and sought asylum in a semantic argument, saying he had never revealed a “plan of war.”
So on Wednesday, the Atlantic Ocean posted the actual text he wrote in a group chat at 11:44 am the day of the attack: “1215et: F-18s Launch (First Strike Package),” Mr. Heggss texted 30 minutes before the incident. “1345:'Triggered based' F-18 first strike window begins (the target terrorist is a known location at @His, so it should be on time).”
This passage was two hours before the strike.
Mr. Heggs added: “1410: More F-18 starts (second strike package).” Then, “1536: F-18 strike begins – also launched the First Sea Battle Axe.”
The text gives a notice of nearly three hours.
On Wednesday, Mr. Heggs called his disclosure a “team update” to provide real-time updates, real-time updates” to get Trump’s national security officials notified.
However, the details of military operations are often so secret that even the service personnel involved are “locked”. This sometimes means they don’t allow conversations with other people who don’t need to know, let alone tell people about the plan, the fighter pilot said. In the “off-the-shelf room” of the aircraft carrier, when the flight squadron is not in the air, the crew burns the instructions to destroy them.
“It's important to understand all aspects of OPSEC's involvement in your life,” said former Navy Captain Joseph Capalbo. “Operation Red Sea is totally silent – no one is talking on the radio. Because someone can hear everything.”
“When you disclose operations security, people get killed,” added Major Anthony Bourke, a former Air Force fighter pilot. “These things are not taken easily. I've never seen anyone in the military know about that.”
Mr. Heggs is a former Fox News Weekend Host and served as National Guard Infantry.
CMDR. Parker Kuldau, a former Navy F/A-18 pilot, called Mr. Heggs's disclosure and subsequent response to them “outrageous”.
“This is far beyond what I expect from anyone in the army,” said Commander Koldo, who also drove a combat mission in the Middle East. “The idea that the Secretary of Defense should do this better is just an incredible idea.”
Senior Defense Department officials and military analysts said Hotis has air defense capabilities provided by Iran to target U.S. fighter jets.
“Houtis has received several Iranian ground-up missiles designed to be able to attract fighters, including those of altitude,” said Fabian Hinz, a military analyst at the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
In fact, senior U.S. officials say that the Houthi rebels fired surface-to-air missiles on a F-16 fighter on February 19 for the first time. Missile missed the fighter. Huthis shot down several slower U.S. Air Force drones.
The Trump administration insists that no information in the chat is classified, and Mr. Heggs and other officials say it is not a “war plan.”
“The signal chat cited by the Atlantic is not a forum for official planning and execution of military operations, it also involves joint staff and joint force leadership,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in response to the New York Times inquiry.
Chats include Vice President JD Vance; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; National Security Advisor Michael Waltz; and others, but no acting chairman Christopher Grady, who is the top military official.
“Military leadership is often not included in political meetings,” Mr Parnell said.
Vice-President Kevin M. Donegan, a former F/A-18 pilot and retired commander of the Middle East Navy, also delayed the idea that the safety of the pilots has been at risk during the March 15 attack.
“Assuming the timeline and information of the report are correct, anything that can be done in such a short time is very low,” Admiral Donegan said. “In the end, our plane was not shot down, and no U.S. service personnel were injured or killed.”
However, a former Defense Department official with military experience said Mr. Heggs's text describes the launch time, and the type of strike aircraft is indeed classified information that could endanger the pilot's life if it is released or obtained.
The former Navy F/A-18 squadron commander also said that the pilot's flight combat mission will take into account the content of Mr. Heggs' text classification information. The former pilot said the details in the revealing text were “extremely knight.”
If Hussett learned the exact time of the strike and would be conducted by operator-based attack aircraft in the Northern Red Sea, they could reposition and prepare air defenses that had shot down several long-distance American drones, the former Navy pilot said.
Although Mr. Heggs dismissed the risk of naval pilots flying these assault missions, a video released by the U.S. Central Command told another story.
Some of the F/A-18 Hornets escaped from Harry S. Truman USS in the Red Sea have 500-pound bombs and 1,000-pound bombs that can only drop within Houthis's air defense range.
Greg Jaffe and John Ismay Contribution report.
