A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in question contained particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app 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.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been provided to lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released later this week.
