A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question included particulars about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the chat allegedly 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 participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.
