A long-awaited Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in dispute included details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the information he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. 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 unclassified version is expected to be made public in the coming days.
