A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret information in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The finalized investigation has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
