Pentagon Report Finds Defense Secretary Placed Military Personnel in Jeopardy with Signal Conversation.
A long-awaited Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included Senator 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 messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence 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.
Notably, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public in the coming days.
