A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
However, the report also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only shared details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released later this week.
