Defense Department Report Concludes Hegseth Placed Military Personnel in Danger with Messaging App Conversation.
A long-awaited Department of Defense report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
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 actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report found that the information shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information 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 released later this week.
