A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute included particulars about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included Senator 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 officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Serious Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public later this week.