A long-awaited Department of Defense report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute included particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the group reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the information shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. 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 had the right to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released in the coming days.
