A long-awaited Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained details about a scheduled 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 chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine 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 sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized 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 shared with Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be released later this week.
