A long-awaited Pentagon report has concluded that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by disclosing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The online conversation in dispute included 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 individuals in the group reportedly 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 participants are not employed at the Pentagon.
Signal is a commercially offered communication application that was not authorized for handling classified information.
Potential Threat to Forces
The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the safety of US service members if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.
Notably, the document also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.
Secretary's Reaction
The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed 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 operation. He further stated that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the investigation to be politically motivated.
Next Steps
The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public later this week.
