Defense Department Investigation Concludes Defense Secretary Put Troops in Jeopardy with Signal Conversation.

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

Details of the Incident

The chat group in dispute included details about a planned airstrike in Yemen against Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a journalist for the Atlantic was added as a member.

Other individuals in the chat allegedly included JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants are not employed at the Department of Defense.

Signal is a publicly available communication application that was not approved for transmitting classified information.

Serious Risk to Forces

The inspector general's report determined that the information shared by Hegseth was classified and posed a risk to the safety of US service members if it had been obtained by a hostile nation.

However, the report acknowledged that Hegseth had the ability to downgrade the material he shared, though it was not specified whether he formally did so.

Secretary's Response

The source said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he provided a short written response.

In his response, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed details that would not have risked lives or jeopardized the operation. He added that he had the right to declassify material and considered the inspector general to be politically motivated.

Next Steps

The finalized investigation has been shared with lawmakers. An publicly releasable copy is anticipated to be made public later this week.