A long-awaited Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified information in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually exercised that authority.
Secretary's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The finalized investigation has been shared with lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
