Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked endangering U.S. military personnel when he used the commercial messaging app Signal to discuss real-time war plans, a report by the Pentagon’s acting inspector general released Thursday has found.
The inquiry examined Hegseth’s use of the app, rather than secure government channels, to discuss detailed information about a military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen, in what became known as Signalgate.
The massive security breach was revealed when The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published a March 24 story detailing how he had been added to the Signal chat that also involved 18 high-ranking officials, including Hegseth and national security adviser Michael Waltz.
The group chat went into detail about times, types of aircraft and targets.
The internal Pentagon probe found that “using a personal cell phone to conduct official business and send nonpublic DoD information through Signal risks potential compromise of sensitive DoD information, which could cause harm to DoD personnel and mission objectives.”
It also raises concerns about what would have happened “if this information had fallen into the hands of U.S. adversaries,” warning that “Houthi forces might have been able to counter U.S. forces or reposition personnel and assets to avoid planned U.S. strikes.”
The report goes on: “Even though these events did not ultimately occur, 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 report, however, said he did not violate the government’s classified information rules.
Hegseth “holds the authority to determine the required classification level” of the information he communicates, it stated.
Read the full report here.
In a statement on X on Wednesday, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the report “is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew all along – no classified information was shared. This matter is resolved, and the case is closed.”
Hegseth also took to social media to call the review a “total exoneration,” writing: “No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission. Thank you for your attention to this IG report.”
The report comes as Hegseth is engulfed in another controversy over who gave the order to kill the survivors of a military strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat on Sept. 2, a “double tap” operation that critics say is a war crime.