A long-awaited Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret information in a private Signal group, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Potential Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released later this week.
