A long-awaited Pentagon review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in question contained details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the group reportedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Potential Risk to Troops
The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to declassify material and viewed the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
