A long-awaited Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other officials 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 participants do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Potential Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth'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 details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he had the right to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.
