A highly anticipated Department of Defense report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by sharing secret information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in question contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a member.
Other officials in the group allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have risked lives or compromised 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 shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be released in the coming days.
