A highly anticipated Pentagon review has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by disclosing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added 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 investigation focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Potential Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence circulated 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 report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public in the coming days.