A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for transmitting classified information.
Potential Risk to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the information shared by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.
