Pentagon Report Concludes Hegseth Put Military Personnel in Jeopardy with Messaging App Conversation.
A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated 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 dispute included particulars about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat 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 communication application that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public in the coming days.
