A long-awaited Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing classified information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in question contained details about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Potential Risk to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to 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 material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
