A long-awaited Pentagon report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question contained particulars about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released in the coming days.
