A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Troops
The internal investigation found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The finalized investigation has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released later this week.
