A long-awaited Pentagon report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute included particulars about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document 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 indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public later this week.
