A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question included particulars 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 chat allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Serious Threat 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 hostile nation.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually 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 claimed he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.
