A long-awaited Department of Defense review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in question contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the group 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 officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Potential Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he had the right to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released later this week.
