A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat 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 communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be released later this week.
