A highly anticipated Department of Defense review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by disclosing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Event
The chat group in dispute contained details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other officials in the group reportedly 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 publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Forces
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
However, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he shared, though it was unclear whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Response
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. Instead, he provided a short written response.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only shared details that would not have risked lives or compromised the operation. He added that he had the right to declassify material and considered the investigation to be partisan.
Next Steps
The finalized investigation has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be made public in the coming days.
