A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question included details about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Potential Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
