A long-awaited Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question included details about a planned airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion 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 did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Forces
The internal investigation found that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be made public later this week.
