A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing classified information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for handling classified information.
Potential Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report determined 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 declassify the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Response
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be released in the coming days.
