The Pentagon’s independent watchdog said US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s use of commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes on Yemen could have put US troops at risk, US media reported on Wednesday.
However, the probe by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General concluded that Hegseth did not violate rules on classification because he has the authority to declassify information, the reports said, citing sources familiar with results of the investigation.
The watchdog’s conclusion — which has been transmitted to the US Congress — is nonetheless likely to reignite debate over conduct by Hegseth, who is already under fire over US strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats that experts say amount to extrajudicial killings.
Photo: Reuters
The probe was sparked by the Atlantic magazine’s revelation in late March that its editor-in-chief was inadvertently included in a Signal chat in which US officials, including Hegseth and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz, discussed strikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The magazine initially withheld the details the officials discussed, but later published them after the White House insisted that no classified information was shared and attacked the editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, as a liar.
The chat included messages in which Hegseth revealed the timing of strikes hours before they happened and information on aircraft and missiles involved, while Waltz sent real-time intelligence on the aftermath of the military action.
In a post on X late on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the review “a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth.”
The Atlantic said that Waltz had set some of the Signal messages to disappear after one week, and others after four, saying it raised questions about whether federal records law was violated.
US media reported in April that Hegseth had created a second Signal chat in which the March Yemen strikes were discussed with people including his wife and brother, but the Pentagon chief likewise weathered that storm and remained in office.
Meanwhile, the US Navy admiral who reportedly issued orders for the US military to fire upon survivors of an attack on an alleged drug boat was yesterday expected to provide a classified briefing to top congressional lawmakers overseeing national security.
The information from Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who is now the commander of US Special Operations Command, comes at a potentially crucial moment in the unfolding congressional investigation into how Hegseth handled the military operation in international waters near Venezuela. There are mounting questions over whether the strike violated the law.
Lawmakers are seeking a full accounting of the strikes after the Washington Post reported that Bradley on Sept. 2 ordered an attack on two survivors to comply with Hegseth’s directive to “kill everybody.”
Legal experts said the incident amounts to a crime if the survivors were targeted, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are demanding accountability.
Bradley was to speak to a handful of top congressional leaders, including the Republican chairs and ranking Democrats of the US House of Representatives and Senate committees on armed services, and separately to the Republican chairman and Democratic vice chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
“This is an incredibly serious matter. This is about the safety of our troops. This is an incident that could expose members of our armed services to legal consequences,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech on Wednesday. “And yet the American public and the Congress are still not hearing basic facts.”
Additional reporting by AP
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