A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included particulars about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report found that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been provided to lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public later this week.
