A highly anticipated Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in question contained details about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he had the right to declassify material and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
