President Donald Trump's administration is facing a scandal over the accidental leak of a group chat by senior security officials on the strikes, which targeted Yemen's Huthi rebels in a bid to curb their attacks on commercial shipping and military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The probe will evaluate "the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business," said the memo from the acting inspector general, Steven Stebbins.
"Additionally, we will review compliance with classification and records retention requirements," according to the memo, which said the investigation is in response to a request from the top two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, a Republican and a Democrat.
The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its editor -- a well-known US journalist -- was inadvertently included in the Signal chat in which officials including Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Hegseth discussed details of air strike timings and intelligence.
US National Security Agency chief fired: US media
Washington (AFP) April 4, 2025 -
The head of secretive US intelligence body the National Security Agency (NSA) was fired Thursday, US media reported.
The Washington Post cited US officials who said General Timothy Haugh was fired after little over a year in the job.
The officials did not give a reason for Haugh's removal, The Post added.
Haugh was also serving as head of the US Cyber Command, the Pentagon's cyber warfare body which conducts offensive and defensive cyber operations.
His NSA deputy Wendy Noble was also fired and reassigned to another job at the Pentagon, The Post said.
The NSA is the US government's largest and most secretive signals intelligence agency.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.
Haugh, who was appointed in February 2024, previously held a string of high-profile government cybersecurity roles, including commander of the elite Cyber National Mission Force.
Reacting to the news, Democratic Congressman Jim Himes said he was "deeply disturbed" by Haugh's sacking.
"I have known General Haugh to be an honest and forthright leader who followed the law and put national security force," he said in a statement posted on X.
"I fear those are precisely the qualities that could lead to his firing in this Administration."
US President Donald Trump has led a major shake-up of the armed forces' leadership since taking office in January.
Trump fired top US military officer General Charles "CQ" Brown in February, offering no explanation for Brown's dismissal less than two years into his four-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
His administration is presiding over sweeping layoffs of federal workers and moves to dismantle government institutions just months into his second term.
US Cyber Command's Deputy Commander William J. Hartman and NSA executive director Sheila Thomas have been named acting NSA chief and deputy, The Post reported.
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