A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in question contained details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion 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 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 messaging app that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the information shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the inspector general 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.
