A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question included details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material 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 investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he had the right to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be made public in the coming days.
