{"id":48260,"date":"2025-12-03T19:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T19:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/12\/03\/hegseth-put-us-troops-mission-at-risk-with-signal-use-watchdog-finds\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:58:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:58:52","slug":"hegseth-put-us-troops-mission-at-risk-with-signal-use-watchdog-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2025\/12\/03\/hegseth-put-us-troops-mission-at-risk-with-signal-use-watchdog-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth put US troops, mission at risk with Signal use, AP sources say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pentagon\u2019s watchdog found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging<\/a> app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen<\/a>, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material<\/a> and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the report\u2019s findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information. CNN first reported the initial findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review by the Pentagon<\/a> inspector general\u2019s office was delivered to lawmakers, who were able to review the report in a classified<\/a> facility at the Capitol. A partially redacted version of the report was expected to be released publicly later this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 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 report that a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Ocean in September killed survivors after Hegseth issued a verbal order to \u201ckill everybody<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth defended the strike as emerging in the \u201cfog of war,\u201d saying he didn\u2019t see any survivors but also \u201cdidn\u2019t stick around\u201d for the rest of the mission and that the admiral in charge \u201cmade the right call\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist was added to a chat where sensitive plans were shared<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In at least two separate Signal chats, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop \u2014 before the men and women carrying out those attacks on behalf of the United States were airborne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
US Navy destroyer Gravely launches Tomahawk missiles toward Iran-backed Houthi rebel positions in Yemen in 2024. (MC1 Jonathan Word\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth had created another Signal chat with 13 people that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the same strike, The Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signal is encrypted but is not authorized for carrying classified information and is not part of the Defense Department\u2019s secure communications network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth has said none of the information shared in the chats was classified. Multiple current and former military officials told 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers had called for inspector general to investigate<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019 lives at risk. They said lower-ranking members of the military would have been fired for such a lapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inspector general opened its investigation into Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee\u2019s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, left, and ranking member Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, March 7, 2023. (Carolyn Kaster\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some veterans and military families also raised concerns, citing the strict security protocols they must follow to protect sensitive information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all ties back to the campaign against Yemen\u2019s Houthis<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Their campaign greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthis in 2024 turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy had faced since World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 said they pledged to stop attacking ships. The latest Gaza ceasefire began in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the disclosure of Hegseth\u2019s Signal chat that included the Atlantic\u2019s editor, the magazine released the entire thread in late March. Hegseth had posted multiple details about an impending strike, using military language and laying out when a \u201cstrike window\u201d starts, where a \u201ctarget terrorist\u201d 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 \u201ccurrently clean\u201d on operational security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April that what he shared over Signal was \u201cinformal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and Marine veteran, asked Hegseth whether he would hold himself accountable if the inspector general found that he placed classified information on Signal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth would not directly say, only noting that he serves \u201cat the pleasure of the president.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pentagon’s watchdog\u00a0found that Pete Hegseth put U.S. troops and their mission at risk when he\u00a0used the Signal app to convey sensitive 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