Inside the Ring: Signal chats on Houthi attacks were leader updates, Hegseth says

NEWS AND ANALYSIS:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said messages sent inadvertently to a reporter in a group chat were not “war” plans, they were “attack” plans used to update key U.S. officials on action taken against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Seeking to allay criticism that sensitive information about military operations was inadvertently leaked in a Signal chat to Atlantic magazine, Mr. Hegseth told reporters at Hickam Field in Hawaii prior to taking off for Guam Wednesday that no classified information was disclosed in the messages.

“Nobody is texting war plans,” he said.

Mr. Hegseth said transcripts of the chats published by the Atlantic do not support arguments that military war plans were disclosed.

“As a matter of fact [the Atlantic] even changed the title to ’attack plans,’ because they know it’s not war plans,” he said. “There’s no units. No locations. No routes. No flight paths. No sources. No methods. No classified information.”

Mr. Hegseth then asked a group of reporters who does receive war plans. “I do. Every single day. I looked at them this morning. I looked at attack plans this morning,” he said.

Attack plans and war plans are developed by commanders like Adm. Sam Paparo, head of the Indo-Pacific Command for that region who stood nearby, and Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, leader of the U.S. Central Command, Mr. Hegseth said.

“They do attack plans and war plans and thank God we have those leaders who do it and do it well and our enemies know it,” he said.

As defense secretary, Mr. Hegseth said his role is to sit atop the command structure and provide updates in real time to key decision-makers.

“General updates in real time. Keep everybody informed. That’s what I did. That’s my job,” he said, referring to the messages.

“The warfighters take the fight to the enemy and I love what they do. And with President Trump’s leadership, enemies are on notice. We will have peace through strength and we’ll keep moving our troops forward.”

On the Houthi strikes, Mr. Hegseth said the Biden administration failed to respond to the missile and drone strikes on shipping in the Red Sea by the Yemeni rebels.

“What does that look like? It looks like weakness,” he said. “That’s not acceptable. Our ongoing campaign against the Houthis has been devastatingly effective.”

Hegseth declares win against DEI

The defense secretary declared victory in the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies from the Pentagon.

“My assessment is the [Department of Defense] will be judged based on how good you are at your job. Full stop,” Mr. Hegseth told Inside the Ring during a tour of a Marine Corps base in Hawaii.

Mr. Hegseth said ending DEI policies and the military standards it created was “fundamental to getting back to basics.”

In his discussions with U.S. military commanders, Mr. Hegseth said he emphasized moving personnel back to earlier military standards.

“Standards at every level need to be adhered to, and that’s at a baseline,” he said.

Mr. Hegseth also said Marines he spoke to “get it”.

“They’ve seen the standards slide under the previous administration,” he said. “They watched in many different ways how it eroded [morale], or quotas were being met, or different aspects had to be … boxes had to be checked.

“The only box that gets checked in this Defense Department is lethality and your ability to do your job.

During the presidential campaign, President Trump vowed to remove woke policies, including within the military.

Critics in Congress said woke policies had hampered recruitment, with most of the military services missing enlistment and re-enlistment targets.

Mr. Hegseth said since the new administration came in, military recruiting has reached “historic levels.”

The Pentagon has removed online posts emphasizing DEI policies promoting homosexuality, transgenderism and radical feminism.

Mr. Trump, through executive order, directed the firing of all officials in the federal government promoting DEI policies.

Several senior military officials who supported DEI policies, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown, were fired.

Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesman, said recently: “I think the president and the secretary have been very clear on this — that anybody that says in the Department of Defense that diversity is our strength is, frankly, incorrect. Our shared purpose and unity are our strength.”

U.S. exercises near Taiwan designed to deter attack

American military exercises near Taiwan are designed to deter a Chinese attack on the island democracy, Mr. Hegseth said Tuesday.

Asked about large-scale People’s Liberation Army exercises near Taiwan in recent months that have been assessed as “rehearsals” for an attack, the defense secretary said U.S. military forces under the Indo-Pacific Command have also conducted similar strategic messaging operations designed to put the PLA on notice that U.S. forces are ready to respond.

“The rehearsals, the exercises, the campaigns we’re doing in and around the first island chain are not meant to be the precursor to an attack,” Mr. Hegseth told Inside the Ring.

“We’re here to deter. We’re here to show strength with our allies, and that includes ensuring that in every possible way, American force is projected forward.”

The U.S. military operations, which include joint exercises with allies’ militaries, freedom of navigation operations by warships and aircraft and other drills, are designed toward the goal of deterring China.

“We don’t want to see a conflict at all, and that’s certainly the president’s perspective, but we’re going to be postured forward and leaning forward as much as necessary to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

In Hawaii, Mr. Hegseth met with personnel from the Navy, the Marines, the Army and the Air and Space forces.

The forces are trained and ready, Mr. Hegseth said, and the readiness is a reflection of the U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific region.

The troops also reflect “the Trump administration’s focus on ensuring that we are doing everything we can to deter conflict with the Communist Chinese, who we don’t seek conflict with at all, but we will stand strong in deterrence and will posture troops forward.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Hegseth flew to Guam, a major military hub in the western Pacific.

Defense official: China invasion barges a key tool for Taiwan

The Chinese military’s recent unveiling of a unique landing barge system to facilitate an invasion of Taiwan represents a new capability for the People’s Liberation Army, according to a senior defense official.

“Obviously, there’s no civilian use for that,” the official told Inside the Ring. “Basically, I can tell you from a military perspective [the barges] seem really useful if you want to invade an island nation.”

The barges, which stretch hundreds of yards from shorelines onto land and can accommodate tanks and troop transports, fill a gap in the PLA’s invasion capabilities for Taiwan, the official said.

“One of the gaps they’ve identified for themselves is ensuring that an amphibious landing which would follow on any joint firepower strike, for a Taiwan invasion scenario, succeeds,” the official said.

The PLA is working to develop amphibious lift ships and other capabilities to move forces onto Taiwan, the official said.

The barges supplement the PLA’s use of commercial roll on, roll off ships for moving troops and equipment. Those ships require a port for unloading forces.

The barges “provide them with another capability” that does not require the use of seaport, the official said.

U.S. intelligence agencies do not fully know the status of the invasion barges and how many have been built. But the systems are a relatively new development for the PLA.

The recent disclosures about the barges, which first appeared on Chinese social media and were then picked up by X, are part of a strategic messaging effort by the PLA, the official said.

“It’s [PLA] messaging to us, saying ‘Hey, we’re getting better and we have another option now to do an amphibious landing,” the official said.

The first landing barge was shown in photographs at a shipyard in Guangzhou, China, with PLA forces shown conducting exercises.

The system includes a road-like structure above the water that produces a 2,500-foot causeway capable of handling military vehicles and troops.

Contact Bill Gertz on X @BillGertz.