A highly anticipated Pentagon review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained particulars about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
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 actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
