A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute contained particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for handling classified information.
Potential Risk to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.
