A highly anticipated Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question contained details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine 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 handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public in the coming days.
