Defense Department Investigation Finds Hegseth Put Military Personnel in Jeopardy with Messaging App Conversation.
A long-awaited Department of Defense report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret information in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question contained particulars about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the chat reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority 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 in the coming days.
