Pentagon Report Finds Hegseth Put Troops in Jeopardy with Signal Chat.

A long-awaited Department of Defense review has determined that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing classified intelligence in a Signal messaging chat, as stated by a source familiar with the report.

Details of the Event

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

Other officials in the group reportedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The report did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Pentagon.

Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not approved for transmitting classified information.

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 troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.

Notably, the document also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to declassify the information he distributed, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.

Secretary's Reaction

The source said that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.

In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have endangered personnel or jeopardized the operation. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and viewed the inspector general to be politically motivated.

Future Actions

The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.