A highly anticipated Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question contained particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This discussion 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 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 communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Potential Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel 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 completed report has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
