Defense Department Investigation Finds Hegseth Placed Troops in Danger with Signal Conversation.

A long-awaited Department of Defense report has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policies by disclosing classified intelligence in a private Signal group, as stated by a person briefed on the findings.

Details of the Event

The chat group in dispute contained details about a planned airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.

Other officials in the group allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. The investigation focused solely on the actions of Hegseth, as the other officials do not work at the Pentagon.

Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for handling sensitive material.

Potential Risk to Forces

The internal investigation found that the information shared by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US service members if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.

Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to declassify the material he distributed, though it was unclear whether he formally exercised that authority.

Secretary's Reaction

The source indicated that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the investigators. 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 mission. He added that he possessed the authority to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be partisan.

Next Steps

The completed report has been provided to lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public later this week.