Defense Department Report Concludes Defense Secretary Put Military Personnel in Danger with Signal Conversation.
A long-awaited Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute included particulars about a planned airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other officials in the chat reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Pentagon.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting classified information.
Potential Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He further stated that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.
