Hegseth broke rules in sharing Yemen strike details on Signal, report finds | Pete Hegseth
The Defense Department’s inspector general on Thursday released the highly anticipated unclassified report on Pete Hegseth’s disclosure of plans for military airstrikes in Yemen during a Signal panel discussion earlier this year.
Hegseth was found to have violated department policies when he shared information in the chat, and that if a foreign enemy force had intercepted that information, it could have endangered the lives of American troops, as the Guardian reported on Wednesday. “Using a personal cell phone to conduct official business and send nonpublic DoD information through Signal risks compromising sensitive DoD information, which could harm DoD personnel and mission objectives,” the report said.
In response, Democratic Rep. Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called Wednesday for Hegseth’s resignation. “Our military, including those stationed in Virginia and around the world, expect and deserve leaders who honor the sacrifices they make every day to protect our nation and never expose them to unnecessary risk. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Pete Hegseth should resign, or the president must impeach him immediately,” Warner said.
But Hegseth posted on Twitter/X pushing back against the criticism on Wednesday evening.
“No information classified. Total exoneration. Case closed. The Houthis were bombed into submission. Thank you for your attention to this IG report,” he wrote.
The report reveals that the head of U.S. Central Command sent a secure email to Hegseth and the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on March 14, just before 9 p.m., approximately 17 hours before the March 15 strikes began. “This email provided operational details and updates to DoD senior leadership, including detailed information on strike assets and timing,” the statement said.
This information about the planned attacks was classified and not to be released to foreign nationals.
The report reveals that Hegseth “sent a message containing operational information to Signal chat members of the ‘Small Houthi PC Group'” at 11:44 p.m. on March 15.
He found that some of the information sent by the Secretary of Defense from his personal cell phone on Signal matched operational information contained in the aforementioned email.
He also found that he did so from his residence at Fort McNair in Washington in the presence of “his junior military aide and his personal communicator.”
According to the report, the Department of Defense provided only “a partial copy of messages from the secretary’s personal cell phone, including some messages previously reported by The Atlantic, but other messages were automatically deleted due to chat settings.”
That meant the inspector general had to rely in part on a transcript of those messages published by the Atlantic to get a complete record.
According to the report, in Hegseth’s statement, he acknowledged the email briefing he received on March 14 from U.S. Central Command on upcoming war plans.
He also said that as Secretary of Defense “he has the authority to decide whether information should be classified and whether classified documents no longer need protection.”
Hegseth also said he took “general, non-specific details” that he said “were unclassified or that he could safely declassify and use to create an ‘unclassified summary’ to provide to Signal chat participants.”
