Defense Department Report Concludes Defense Secretary Placed Military Personnel in Danger with Signal Conversation.
A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Particulars of the Incident
The online conversation in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for handling classified information.
Serious Threat to Troops
The inspector general's report determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or compromised the mission. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public later this week.
