A long-awaited Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in dispute contained details about a planned airstrike 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 report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview 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 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 Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.
