A long-awaited Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Event
The online conversation in question included details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be made public later this week.
