A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Serious Threat to Forces
The internal investigation found that the information shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he had the right to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released later this week.
