A long-awaited Department of Defense report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, 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 militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other officials in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized 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 service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he had the right to declassify material and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be made public later this week.
