A long-awaited Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by sharing secret information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Incident
The chat group in dispute contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Potential Threat to Forces
The internal investigation found that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be released in the coming days.
