A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in question included details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the group allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He further stated that he had the right to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released in the coming days.
