A long-awaited Department of Defense report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in question contained particulars about a scheduled air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included Senator 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 officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Potential Threat to Forces
The internal investigation found that the information circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Secretary's Response
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.
