A highly anticipated Pentagon review has determined 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 question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the chat allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Serious Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
