A long-awaited Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question included details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the group 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 officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Serious Threat to Troops
The internal investigation found that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He added that he had the right to declassify material and considered the investigation to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public later this week.
