A long-awaited Department of Defense report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing classified information in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question contained particulars about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other officials in the group allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Serious Threat to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.
