US defense secretary circumvents the official communications equipment

Summary

US defense secretary Pete Hegseth appears to have a private computer in his office that is linked to the public internet. He wanted this computer to use the messaging app Signal, which is the preferred method of communication among Trump's government officials. Here I will look at the secretary of defense's official communications equipment and the SecDef Cables communications center. There's also a photo in which Hegseth's private computer can be recognized. US defense secretary Pete Hegseth in his office in the Pentagon, January 30, 2025 (Still from a video message on X, formerly Twitter) Hegseth's government equipment Like his predecessors, Trump's defense secretary Pete Hegseth has access to a range of secure and non-secure telephone and computer networks. The equipment is installed at a table behind his back, when sitting at his big writing desk in the Pentagon. In the photo above we can see that equipment in a set-up that has basically been unchanged since Chuck Hagel, who was Obama's secretary of Defense from 2013 to 2015. In the photo of Pete Hegseth we see from left to right: - On top of a wooden stand sits a Cisco IP Phone 8851 with a 14-key expansion module. This phone is part of the Crisis Management System (CMS), which connects the President, the National Security Council, Cabinet members, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, intelligence agency watch centers, and others. Its bright yellow bezel indicates that it can be used for conversations up to Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). - Below the CMS phone on the wooden stand is (hardly visible) an Integrated Services Telephone-2 (IST-2), which can be used for both secure and non-secure phone calls. This phone belongs to the Defense Red Switch Network (DRSN), also known as the Multilevel Secure Voice service, which connects the White House, all military command centers, intelligence agencies, government departments and NATO allies. - Right in front of the IST-2 is another Cisco IP Phone 8851 w...