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 source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
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 conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.
