A long-awaited Pentagon report has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Incident
The chat group in question included particulars about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the group allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the information 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 short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be made public in the coming days.
