A long-awaited Department of Defense report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified information in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the group allegedly 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 officials are not employed at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Forces
The internal investigation found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the information he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Hegseth's Response
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He further stated that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be released later this week.
