A long-awaited Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained details about a planned airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for handling classified information.
Potential Risk to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Secretary's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released in the coming days.
