Hegseth could have endangered troop safety with Signal chat

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated Pentagon policy and potentially endangered military personnel when he used his personal phone and the Signal app to discuss an upcoming strike, according to an internal report from the watchdog.

The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General led the investigation after a reporter was mistakenly added to a discussion about an operation against the Houthis, and subsequently published its contents.

The inspector general concluded that Hegseth had the legal authority to decide whether the information he shared was unclassified or could be safely declassified.

Hegseth said the results showed “No classified information.” Total exemption.”

The group chat leak – dubbed Signalgate – shook the White House and sent Washington spinning just weeks into Trump’s second term.

The incident raised serious questions about the administration’s national security practices and compliance with laws governing classified information.

The Signal chat was revealed in The Atlantic in March, after its editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added by then-national security adviser Mike Waltz.

The conversation showed Hegseth discussing specific targets, the timing of the attacks, as well as the types of weapons that would be used.

According to the IG report, Hegseth derived the information he shared from a classified email titled “SECRET//NOFORN” — meaning its contents were secret, could harm national security if disclosed, and should not be viewed by any foreign national.

The inspector general determined that Hegseth “holds the authority to determine the level of classification required of all departments of Defense.” [Department of Defence] information it communicates.

But the office also found that the method of communication created risks for the military.

“Using a personal cell phone to conduct official business and send nonpublic Department of Defense information via Signal risks compromising sensitive Department of Defense information, which could harm Department of Defense personnel and mission objectives,” the report said.

According to the IG report, Hegseth declined to be interviewed and instead submitted a written statement.

The investigation received only a partial copy of the Signal messages on his personal phone.

The inspector general therefore had to “rely in part on the Atlantic’s publicly released transcript…for a complete record.”

The Trump administration has denied that the information shared in the chat was classified. The inspector general has not determined whether Hegseth made the decision to formally declassify it, which he has the authority to do, before posting it to the chat.

In response to the report, Hegseth posted on X: “No information classified. Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission.”

“Thank you for your attention to this IG report,” he wrote to end his message, echoing how President Donald Trump frequently terminates his social media posts.

The investigation was requested by the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee.

Most major U.S. government departments have inspectors general, independent officials who conduct audits and investigations.

A Pentagon spokesperson said the report “totally exonerates Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew all along: no classified information was shared.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report proves that “no classified information was disclosed and operational security was not compromised.”

But Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for Hegseth’s resignation after the report was delivered to Congress.

“An objective, evidence-based investigation by the Pentagon’s internal watchdog leaves no doubt: Secretary Hegseth endangered the lives of America’s pilots,” Warner said in a statement.

Warner said the report emphasized “that this was not an isolated error. It reflects a broader pattern of recklessness and poor judgment by a Secretary who has repeatedly shown he is in over his head.”

Hegseth, who leads an army of more than a million troops, recently came under scrutiny for overseeing a U.S. attack on a boat carrying suspected drug traffickers.

He denies reports that he ordered troops to “kill all” suspects on board the boat, and says he did not know survivors had been killed in a second airstrike on the target.