A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained particulars about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the group 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 participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety 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 distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Secretary's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He further stated that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.
