A long-awaited Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be made public in the coming days.
