A long-awaited Pentagon review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Event
The chat group in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for handling classified information.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Secretary's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the operation. He further stated that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
