Pentagon watchdog finds Hegseth’s use of Signal posed risk to US personnel, AP sources say

WASHINGTON AP The Pentagon s watchdog revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U S personnel and their mission at danger 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 reported Wednesday Hegseth however has the ability to declassify material and the description did not find he did so improperly according to one of the people familiar with the findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information That person also commented the account concluded that Hegseth violated Pentagon procedures by using his personal device for official business and it recommended better training for all Pentagon functionaries Hegseth declined to sit for an interview with the Pentagon s inspector general but provided a written report that person revealed The defense secretary asserted that he was permitted to declassify information as he saw fit and 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 lawmakers had called for the independent inquiry into his use of the commercially available app Lawmakers also just opened investigations into a news statement that a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September killed survivors after Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill everybody 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 revelations that he discussed sensitive military plans on Signal asserting that the information was unclassified Journalist was added to a chat where sensitive plans were shared In at least two separate Signal chats 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 United States were airborne 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 protection 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 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis Hegseth had created another Signal chat with people that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the same strike The Associated Press stated Signal is encrypted but is not authorized for carrying classified information and is not part of the Pentagon s secure communications infrastructure Hegseth previously has explained none of the information shared in the chats was classified Multiple current and former military administrators have stated the AP there was no way details with that specificity especially before a strike took place would have been OK to share on an unsecured device The review was delivered to lawmakers who were able to review the statement in a classified facility at the Capitol A partially redacted version of the assessment was expected to be circulated publicly later this week Hegseth noted he viewed the analysis as a partisan exercise and did not trust the inspector general according to one of the people familiar with the account s findings The review had to rely on screenshots of the Signal chat published by the Atlantic because Hegseth could not provide more than a small handful of his Signal messages the person explained When urged about the study in August Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson informed reporters that we believe that this is a witch hunt and a total sham and being conducted in bad faith The Pentagon did not directly respond Wednesday to a request for comment Lawmakers had called for inspector general to investigate The revelations sparked intense scrutiny with Democratic lawmakers and a small number of Republicans saying Hegseth posting the information to the Signal chats before the military jets had reached their targets potentially put those pilots lives at hazard They disclosed lower-ranking members of the military would have been fired for such a lapse The inspector general opened its probe into Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen Roger Wicker of Mississippi and the committee s top Democrat Sen Jack Reed of Rhode Island Specific veterans and military families also raised concerns citing the strict guard 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 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 deal through the Red Sea corridor which typically sees trillion of goods move through it annually The U S -led campaign against the Houthis in turned into the greater part 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 U S then launched a broad assault against the Houthis that ended weeks later when Trump commented they pledged to stop attacking ships The latest Gaza ceasefire began in October Following the disclosure of Hegseth s Signal chat that included the Atlantic s editor the magazine published the entire thread in late March 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 U S was at this moment clean on operational assurance Hegseth described 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 Hegseth was pressed multiple times by lawmakers over whether he shared classified information and if he should face accountability if he did Rep Seth Moulton a Massachusetts Democrat and Marine veteran required Hegseth whether he would hold himself accountable if the inspector general detected that he placed classified information on Signal Hegseth would not directly say only noting that he serves at the pleasure of the president