An inspector general report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated Pentagon policy and risked the safety of U.S. servicemembers by sharing sensitive operational details over the encrypted messaging app Signal.
The review stems from an episode earlier this year in which an editor from The Atlantic was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat where Hegseth and other senior administration officials were discussing upcoming and ongoing U.S. strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
The watchdog noted that Hegseth declined to be interviewed and provided only a limited set of messages, forcing investigators to rely partly on screenshots published earlier in the press. In a written response to the investigators, Hegseth argued that he had the authority to declassify the information he shared and suggested the probe was politically motivated.
But investigators found that Hegseth sent information about the planned strikes, including timing, target details, and aircraft movements, to two Signal groups, one of which included his wife and brother. The report states that although the worst-case scenario was ultimately avoided, “the Secretary’s actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.” The IG also concluded that Hegseth’s use of a personal phone for official business violated departmental rules.
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Pentagon leadership, however, quickly moved to cast the findings in a different light. Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary for Public Affairs, called the review “a TOTAL exoneration,” insisting that no classified information had been compromised.
Democratic members of Congress did not agree.
“This report is a damning review of an incompetent secretary of defense who is profoundly incapable of the job and clearly has no respect for or comprehension of what is required to safeguard our service members,” said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, in a statement.
“It confirms staggering violations of policy – namely that unsecured platforms were used by the secretary to boast about sensitive operational details that could have jeopardized both the mission and, more importantly, the lives of American service members tasked with carrying out Operation Rough Rider.”
Sen. Mark Kelly told reporters it was “clear he shouldn’t have been using an unofficial, unsecured app to transmit this kind of information.”
The report lands at a moment when Hegseth is already under scrutiny for a series of controversies. Most recently, he has faced questions about his reported involvement in a “double-tap” strike in the Caribbean that resulted in a second attack on survivors, an incident military experts have warned could constitute a war crime. His tenure has also been marked by sweeping personnel purges and intense criticism of his management style.
