Pentagon Investigation Finds Hegseth Put Troops in Jeopardy with Messaging App Conversation.

A long-awaited Department of Defense review has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breached departmental policies by sharing classified information in a Signal messaging chat, according to a source familiar with the report.

Particulars of the Incident

The chat group in question contained particulars about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat was revealed 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 conduct of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.

Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not authorized for transmitting sensitive material.

Potential Threat to Forces

The internal investigation found that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the safety of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.

However, the document acknowledged that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally exercised that authority.

Hegseth's Response

The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.

In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the mission. He added that he possessed the authority to downgrade information and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.

Future Actions

The completed report has been shared with Congress. An unclassified version is anticipated to be made public later this week.