Defense Department Report Finds Hegseth Placed Troops in Jeopardy with Signal Conversation.
A long-awaited Department of Defense report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by sharing classified information in a private Signal group, as stated by a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in question included particulars about a scheduled air attack in Yemen targeting Houthi fighters. This discussion came to light after a journalist for the Atlantic was included as a member.
Other individuals in the chat allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Potential Risk to Troops
The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret 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 declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth asserted he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be partisan.
Future Actions
The completed report has been shared with lawmakers. An unclassified version is expected to be made public in the coming days.
