A long-awaited Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly 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 officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he shared, though it was unclear whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
