A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Forces
The internal investigation found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually exercised that authority.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be made public in the coming days.
