A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question included details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Potential Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. He further stated that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released later this week.
