A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute contained particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included 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 Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he had the right to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be released later this week.
