A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by disclosing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute included details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the chat reportedly included Senator 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 do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually exercised that authority.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public later this week.
