Info Hegseth shared with wife and brother came from top general’s secure messages

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers remarks during a reenlistment ceremony for Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Dakota Meyer in the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon on April 17, 2025. (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza)

By Courtney Kube and Gordon Lubold • Apr 23, 2025

Minutes before U.S. fighter jets took off to begin strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last month, Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, used a secure U.S. government system to send detailed information about the operation to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The material Kurilla sent included details about when U.S. fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets — details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands, put the pilots of those fighters in grave danger. But he was doing exactly what he was supposed to: providing Hegseth, his superior, with information he needed to know and using a system specifically designed to safely transmit sensitive and classified information.