A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Particulars of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained particulars about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other officials in the group allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for handling classified information.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered 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 declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth asserted he only shared details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The finalized investigation has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be released later this week.
