{"id":84850,"date":"2025-12-04T21:54:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/12\/04\/ig-finds-hegseth-risked-endangering-houthi-mission-with-signal-use\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:26:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:26:50","slug":"ig-finds-hegseth-risked-endangering-houthi-mission-with-signal-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/newsletters\/daily-news-roundup\/2025\/12\/04\/ig-finds-hegseth-risked-endangering-houthi-mission-with-signal-use\/","title":{"rendered":"IG finds Hegseth risked endangering Houthi mission with Signal use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Pentagon <a href=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2025\/Dec\/04\/2003834916\/-1\/-1\/1\/DODIG_2026_021.PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2025\/Dec\/04\/2003834916\/-1\/-1\/1\/DODIG_2026_021.PDF\">inspector general report<\/a> confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/03\/26\/obviously-classified-experts-say-hegseth-chat-leaks-invited-danger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/03\/26\/obviously-classified-experts-say-hegseth-chat-leaks-invited-danger\/\">sensitive operational information about an impending strike<\/a> in Yemen over his personal cell phone, potentially endangering the mission objectives and troops carrying it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report, which was dated Dec. 2 and publicly released Thursday, found that Hegseth has the authority to decide whether information should be classified, and he determined the details he shared in a March 15 Signal chat \u201cwere either not classified or that he could safely declassify and use to create an \u2018unclassified summary\u2019 to provide to the Signal chat participants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of those chat participants was, apparently unknowingly to Hegseth and other government officials, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, who later that month published a bombshell report on the security breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even if rules against disclosing classified information were not breached, the IG said Hegseth\u2019s sharing of nonpublic information so close to an airstrike operation carried significant risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the chat, the IG said, Hegseth disclosed the \u201cquantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory over an unapproved, unsecure network approximately 2 to 4 hours before the execution of those strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUsing 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,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The release of the long-awaited report reignited the controversy that followed Goldberg\u2019s initial reports on the chats, which came to be known as Signalgate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some lawmakers called for Hegseth\u2019s resignation in blistering statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis was a rookie mistake that could have had dire consequences for our service members who put their lives on the line for our nation every day,\u201d said House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Sarah Elfreth, D-Md. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am calling for [Hegseth\u2019s] immediate resignation. In the coming days, I will use every tool at my disposal to hold him publicly accountable and restore the public\u2019s faith in those who lead us and are responsible for our national security,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon pushed back on the report, highlighting the IG\u2019s observation that Hegseth had the authority as secretary to declassify information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report \u201ctotally exonerates Pete Hegseth,\u201d Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth\u2019s attorney and adviser, said in a video interview with conservative media outlet Real America\u2019s Voice, which the Pentagon shared on its social media accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s no classified material in those texts,\u201d Parlatore said. \u201cEverything he declassified, he has within his authority to declassify.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The IG said that then-U.S. Central Command commander Army Gen. Erik Kurilla sent four emails on March 14 and 15 that were classified \u201csecret\u201d and \u201cnot releasable to foreign nationals\u201d to Hegseth and the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff outlining plans for the strike, including operational details and updates. There were no markings within the emails indicating some elements were classified and others were not, the IG said, so investigators concluded all information in CENTCOM\u2019s emails was classified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the day of the strike, Saturday, March 15, Hegseth and two assistants were at his home at Fort McNair in a temporary sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF. Hegseth sent information about the upcoming strike to a group chat, labeled \u201cHouthi PC Small Group\u201d that also included Vice President JD Vance, now-former national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Goldberg, who Waltz had added to the group, apparently by mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hegseth sent messages outlining, to the minute, when two waves of F-18 Hornet fighters were planned to launch, and approximately when each group of jets would hit their targets. Hegseth\u2019s message also detailed plans for drone and Tomahawk missile strikes, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The strike plan information \u201csubstantially restated details\u201d from CENTCOM commander Kurilla\u2019s first email from March 14, which was marked SECRET\/NOFORN, the IG said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former defense officials who spoke with Defense News at the time said such specific information about strike packages would typically be considered classified. Had information on the specific timing of aircraft launches, and their arrival at the targets, fallen into the hands of the Houthi terrorists the U.S. was targeting, the Houthis could have more easily targeted U.S. aircraft, experts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hegseth declined the IG\u2019s request for an interview, but provided a written statement in July, in which he said he determined that information did not need to be classified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI took non-specific general details which I determined, in my sole discretion, were either not classified, or that I could safely declassify [and created an] unclassified summary\u201d of CENTCOM\u2019s strike details, Hegseth said in his written response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The IG concluded Hegseth does have the authority to decide what information should be classified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the IG said that his use of Signal, an unapproved commercially available messaging program on his personal cell phone, to send sensitive nonpublic operational information a few hours before the strikes occurred did not comply with the department\u2019s rules on using personal devices for official business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Defense Department allows the use of personal devices for official government business, and the use of nonapproved, commercially available messaging applications, only in certain circumstances such as an emergency and if other official communications methods are unavailable, impractical or unreliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report said that a DOD lawyer provided more context for the IG to consider, but did not provide supporting documentation to verify its claims. For that reason, the IG said, it did not include the provided context in the report\u2019s release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pentagon pointed to the IG&#8217;s conclusion that Hegseth had the authority to declassify the strike information as an exoneration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":110236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":101,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,16,26,65,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3320],"class_list":["post-84850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"Z24IE562PBEMLLBWI3H5NCNL6I","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2025\/12\/04\/ig-finds-hegseth-risked-endangering-houthi-mission-with-signal-use\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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