Pentagon Investigation Finds Defense Secretary Put Military Personnel in Danger with Messaging App Conversation.
A highly anticipated Pentagon report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing secret intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi fighters. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the chat reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for handling sensitive material.
Potential Threat to Troops
The internal investigation found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually exercised that authority.
Hegseth's Response
The informed individual said that Hegseth declined an interview by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the mission. He further stated that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.