Pentagon boss: Apparently Hegseth’s private cell phone number to be found online

According to media reports for the signal chats, US defense minister Pete Hegseth used a private cell phone about attack plans against the Huthis and deposited the number on many websites. The “New York Times” and the “Spiegel” report that the minister’s number can be easily found on the Internet and was therefore an easy goal for possible spies.

According to “New York Times”, the number was found on Facebook, WhatsApp and a website for fantasy sports games. He also left his number for the Airbnb apartment platform or Google Maps last year, for example to evaluate his plumber or his dentist. The “Spiegel” had already found the telephone number after the first signal chat, in which Hegseth with high-ranking government officials and accidentally also shared the military plans.

Cybersecurity experts said that the cell phone of an American Minister of Defense is usually one of the best protected national devices. The former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Mike Casey, said in an interview: “He is one of the five people in the world who are the most common goal of spy.” There is practically no chance that someone has not tried to install spyware to sniff out on their phone.

If someone uses their phone for ordinary daily activities, they leave a clearly visible digital trace that can follow a moderately experienced person, an expert said. “Telephone numbers are like an address that tells you which house you can collapse,” expert James Lewis told the newspaper.

The fact that Hegseth’s telephone number was so easy to find is his history: Before the appointment as Minister of Defense by US President Donald Trump, he was a moderator at Fox News and thus a private citizen. According to the “New York Times”, it is now common for government officials to keep their private phones, but they should not use them for their official tasks.

Hegseth, according to media reports, is said to have shared military plans for attacks on the Huthi-Miliz in Yemen in a group chat about the Signal app with his wife and his brother and his lawyer. Hegseth was already criticized for other signal group chats on the subject with senior government officials.