A long-awaited Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included details about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released later this week.
