A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by disclosing classified information in a private Signal group, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in question contained details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials 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 officials 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 Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.
