Defense Department Report Concludes Hegseth Put Military Personnel in Jeopardy with Signal Chat.

A long-awaited Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached official protocols by disclosing secret intelligence in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.

Details of the Event

The chat group in question included details about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a participant.

Other officials in the chat reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials are not employed at the Pentagon.

Signal is a commercially offered messaging app that was not approved for transmitting classified information.

Potential Threat to Forces

The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation.

Notably, the document acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.

Secretary's Response

The informed individual indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. 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 mission. He added that he had the right to declassify material and viewed the investigation to be partisan.

Future Actions

The finalized investigation has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public in the coming days.