Pentagon Investigation Finds Defense Secretary Put Military Personnel in Danger with Signal Chat.
A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute included details about a planned 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 officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the information shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Response
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The finalized investigation has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be released in the coming days.
