A long-awaited Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other officials in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Potential Threat to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the information shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he had the right to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public in the coming days.
