A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by sharing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute included details about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Troops
The internal investigation found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Hegseth's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He further stated 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 Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public later this week.