A long-awaited Pentagon review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by disclosing classified intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute contained details about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist 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 actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report 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 acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he shared, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The finalized investigation has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released in the coming days.
