A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has determined 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.
Details of the Event
The online conversation in dispute contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant.
Other individuals in the group allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Potential Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the information circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the report also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the information he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be made public later this week.
