🔗 Share this article Pentagon Investigation Finds Defense Secretary Placed Military Personnel in Jeopardy with Messaging App Chat. A long-awaited Department of Defense review has determined 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. Details of the Event The online conversation in question included particulars about a planned air attack in Yemen against Houthi militants. This chat came to light after a reporter for the Atlantic was included as a participant. Other individuals in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The report focused solely on the conduct of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense. Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for transmitting classified information. Potential Threat to Forces The internal investigation determined that the intelligence shared by Hegseth was secret and could have endangered the safety of US troops if it had been intercepted by a hostile nation. However, the report also noted that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the information he distributed, though it was unclear whether he actually did so. Secretary's Response The source indicated that Hegseth declined an interview by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a brief written statement. In his statement, Hegseth asserted 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 considered the inspector general to be partisan. Next Steps The completed report has been shared with Congress. An publicly releasable copy is expected to be released later this week.