A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in question contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Potential Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
However, the report also noted 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 said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
