Pentagon Report Concludes Defense Secretary Put Military Personnel in Danger with Signal Conversation.
A long-awaited Department of Defense report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included particulars about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other officials in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Potential Threat to Forces
The inspector general's report determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
