A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret information in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally exercised that authority.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview 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 jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be made public later this week.
