A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question included particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included 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 do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The internal investigation found that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
