A highly anticipated Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Incident
The online conversation in question included details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the information circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.
