Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss military strikes in Yemen earlier this year risked putting troops in danger and violated Pentagon policies about using personal phones for official business, according to a new report from the Pentagon inspector general.
The investigation found the information shared in the Signal chat was marked “secret” and could have endangered U.S. troops if it had been viewed by a foreign adversary.
“The Secretary sent nonpublic DoD information identifying the quantity 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,” the 84-page report reads. “Using 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.”
The scandal unfolded earlier this year when Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg shared screenshots that showed he had been added to a Signal chat of top Trump administration officials about an upcoming attack on the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Goldberg was apparently mistakenly added to the chat by then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
Pentagon Inspector General Steven Stebbins launched his investigation in April at the request of Senators Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) and Jack Reed (D., R.I.) of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Hegseth declined to be interviewed as part of the investigation, instead choosing to provide a written response, in which he maintained that the messages he sent were “non-specific general details which I determined, in my sole discretion, were either not classified, or that I could safely declassify.”
He called the messages part of an “unclassified summary” of USCENTCOM strike details.
“I chose to keep the details only to the overt actions of DoD assets, which would be readily apparent to any observer in the area and did not include any details about targets or intelligence which may have been derived from other agencies outside DoD.”
The report concludes that Hegseth sent sensitive information “that he determined did not require classification” over the Signal chat on his personal cell phone. As secretary, Hegseth is the “head original classification authority in the DoD… and holds the authority to determine the required classification level of all DoD information he communicates,” it says.
However, the report finds that Hegseth’s use of the Signal app on his personal cell phone to send sensitive information did not comply with military rules that prohibit both the use of a personal device for official business and the use of a nonapproved commercially available messaging application to send nonpublic DoD information.
Hegseth responded to the report in a post on X on Wednesday night saying, “No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed.”
The White House argued the report vindicated the president’s national security team and its handling of sensitive information.
“This review affirms what the Administration has said from the beginning — no classified information was leaked, and operational security was not compromised,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“President Trump stands by Secretary Hegseth,” she added.