Pentagon Report Finds Defense Secretary Placed Troops in Jeopardy with Signal Chat.
A long-awaited Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Incident
The online conversation in question contained particulars about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Serious Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
