A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing classified information in a private Signal group, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question included details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Serious Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed 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 had the right to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
