A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing secret information in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in question contained particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he had the right to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The finalized investigation has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be released later this week.
