A long-awaited Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained particulars about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other officials in the group allegedly included Senator 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 are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Serious Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He further stated that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released later this week.
