Pentagon watchdog finds Hegseth’s Signal chat violated regulations, could have endangered troops, sources say
Washington — The Pentagon’s internal watchdog determined Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth jeopardized sensitive military information and could have endangered American service members when he shared certain details about U.S. military operations in Yemen in a private Signal group chat earlier this year, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the report’s findings.
The individuals who spoke to CBS News said the report found the former Fox News host-turned-defense-secretary violated Defense Department policies when he used his personal device for official business to transmit sensitive U.S. military information to other top Trump officials and the editor in chief of The Atlantic magazine. The two sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the unreleased report.
A classified version of the inspector general’s report was sent to Congress Tuesday. An unredacted version is expected to be released Thursday. CNN first reported the defense inspector general’s findings.
The sources said the IG report confirmed what CBS News had reported in July — that key information posted by Hegseth in the encrypted Signal chat group was derived from a classified email marked “SECRET//NOFORN.” CBS News reported that information was shared by Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who at the time was the commander of U.S. Central Command, the primary combatant unit overseeing U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia.
The “SECRET” designation means that the information was classified and the disclosure of the information without proper declassification could potentially cause serious damage to national security and jeopardize the safety of service members, according to the U.S. government.
The “NOFORN” label means the information can only be disseminated to U.S. agencies and individuals, excluding foreign nationals and even close U.S. allies.
The sources familiar with the inspector general’s investigation said the report found that if the information had been intercepted by a foreign adversary, it would have clearly endangered U.S. service members and the mission.
The report does not address the question of whether Hegseth declassified the information before it was posted in a Signal chat group that included other top Trump officials, the sources said. That group chat also inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, who broke the story in March.
