Pentagon watchdog finds Hegseth's use of Signal posed risk to US personnel

The Pentagon's watchdog has found that United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put US personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen's Houthi militants.

Two people familiar with the findings said Mr Hegseth was able to declassify material, and the report did not find he did so improperly. 

According to one, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the report concluded that Mr Hegseth violated Pentagon policy by using his personal device for official business, and it recommended better training for all Pentagon officials.

Mr Hegseth declined to sit for an interview with the Pentagon's inspector general but provided a written statement, the person said. 

Mr Hegseth asserted that he was permitted to declassify information as he saw fit and had only communicated details he thought would not endanger the mission.

The initial findings ramp up the pressure on the former Fox News Channel host after politicians had called for an independent inquiry into his use of the commercially available app.

Politicians also just opened investigations into a news report that a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September killed survivors after Mr Hegseth issued a verbal order to "kill everybody".

Mr Hegseth defended the strike as emerging in the "fog of war," saying he didn't see any survivors but also "didn't stick around" for the rest of the mission and that the admiral in charge "made the right call" in ordering the second strike. 

He also did not admit fault following the Signal revelations, asserting that the information was unclassified.

"The Inspector General review is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Mr Hegseth and proves what we knew all along — no classified information was shared," Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson, said in a statement.

"This matter is resolved, and the case is closed."

Journalist added to chat where sensitive plans were shared

In at least two separate Signal chats, Mr Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women carrying out those attacks on behalf of the US were airborne.

Mr Hegseth's use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. 

It included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss March 15 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis.

Mr Hegseth had created another Signal chat with 13 people that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the same strike.

Signal is encrypted but is not authorised for carrying classified information and is not part of the Pentagon's secure communications network.

Mr Hegseth previously said none of the information shared in the chats was classified. 

Multiple current and former military officials said there was no way details with that specificity, especially before a strike took place, would have been okay to share on an unsecured device.

A partially redacted version of the review is expected to be released publicly later this week. 

Mr Hegseth said he viewed the investigation as a partisan exercise and did not trust the Inspector General, according to one of the people familiar with the report's findings. 

The review had to rely on screenshots of the Signal chat published by the Atlantic because Mr Hegseth could not provide more than a small handful of his Signal messages, the person said.

When asked about the investigation in August, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters that "we believe that this is a witchhunt and a total sham and being conducted in bad faith".

Politicians had called for inspector general to investigate

The revelations sparked intense scrutiny, with Democratic politicians and a small number of Republicans saying Mr Hegseth posting the information to the Signal chats before the military jets had reached their targets potentially put those pilots' lives at risk.

They said lower-ranking members of the military would have been fired for such a lapse.

The inspector general opened its investigation into Mr Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee's top Democrat, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Some veterans and military families also raised concerns, citing the strict security protocols they must follow to protect sensitive information.

It all ties back to the campaign against Yemen's Houthis

The Houthi rebels had started launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in late 2023 in what their leadership had described as an effort to end Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Their campaign greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $US1 trillion ($1.5 trillion) of goods move through it annually.

The US-led campaign against the Houthis in 2024 turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy had faced since World War II.

A ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war had begun in January before falling apart in March. 

The US then launched a broad assault against the Houthis that ended weeks later when US President Donald Trump said they pledged to stop attacking ships. The latest Gaza ceasefire began in October.

Following the disclosure of Mr Hegseth's Signal chat that included the Atlantic's editor, the magazine released the entire thread in late March. 

Mr Hegseth had posted multiple details about an impending strike, using military language and laying out when a "strike window" starts, where a "target terrorist" was located, the time elements around the attack and when various weapons and aircraft would be used in the strike. 

He mentioned that the US was "currently clean" on operational security.

Mr Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April that what he shared over Signal was "informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things".

During a congressional hearing in June, Mr Hegseth was pressed multiple times by politicians over whether he shared classified information and if he should face accountability if he did.

Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and Marine veteran, asked Mr Hegseth whether he would hold himself accountable if the inspector general found that he placed classified information on Signal.

Mr Hegseth would not directly say, only noting that he serves "at the pleasure of the president."

AP