A long-awaited Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Secretary's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The finalized investigation has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be made public later this week.
