A highly anticipated Pentagon report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Incident
The chat group in question contained details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other officials in the group allegedly 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 are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released later this week.
