A long-awaited Pentagon review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other officials in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the information circulated 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 acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
