A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing classified information in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in dispute contained details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Potential Threat to Troops
The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.
