Press reports revealed that the US Defense Secretary, Beit Higseth, took his wife Jennifer to sensitive meetings with foreign military officials, which raised major questions about the violation of the security protocols followed in such meetings.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Jennifer attended the first Pentagon meeting on March 6 with British Defense Secretary John Healy, where the US decision was discussed to stop the participation of military intelligence information with Ukraine.
As for the second meeting, it was at the headquarters of the NATO in Brussels during February, where the coordination of military support for Ukraine was discussed, a sensitive issue that was not announced publicly. The report indicated that some foreign participants in these meetings were not aware of the identity of the minister’s wife or the reason for her attendance.
It is noteworthy that such meetings are usually discussed by very sensitive security issues, which is limited to the presence of people with high -level security permits. Therefore, the Minister of Defense’s behavior raised questions about whether the approved security measures have been violated.
These reports coincided with the secret conversation leaks scandal through the “Sagnal” application, which included Vice President GD Vans and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, as well as the editor -in -chief of “The Atlantic” Jeffrey Goldberg. Those talks, which dealt with possible military plans against the “Houthis” in Yemen, have sparked major security concerns.
In response to these reports, Defense Minister Higseth denied any discussion of war plans in those talks, while national security adviser Mike Walz Goldberg attacked and described him as harsh terms.
This incident sparked angry reactions within the American political and security circles, where Democratic Representative Chris Jackson called for the resignation of the defense minister immediately because of what he described as a “grave security breach”, while Governor Bill Christol criticized the Trump administration for its alleged underestimation of security measures.
At the same time, President Trump announced that he had assigned the National Security Adviser to follow up the investigation of the case, at a time when the administration is witnessing increasing pressure due to accusations of lenient in preserving sensitive military secrets.
