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 source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials 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 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 approved for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally exercised that authority.
Secretary's Response
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 shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been provided to lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released later this week.
