A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question contained details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included 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 report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Serious Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the report also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the information he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Secretary's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
