A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Incident
The chat group in question contained particulars about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Serious Risk to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He further stated 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 unclassified version is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
