A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This discussion came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the chat allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said 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 endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.
