A highly anticipated Pentagon review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing classified information in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute included particulars about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly 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 officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Potential Risk to Troops
The internal investigation found that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released later this week.
