A long-awaited Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by disclosing classified information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in dispute included details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor 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 authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be released later this week.
