A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included 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 do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. He further stated that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.
