A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained particulars about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other officials in the group reportedly 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 participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be made public later this week.
