A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report found that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released later this week.
