A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute included particulars about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the group reportedly 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 Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be released in the coming days.
