A long-awaited Pentagon review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in dispute contained details about a planned airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public in the coming days.
