“Created a risk”: IG report says Hegseth’s use of Signal could have put troops in harm’s way

An inspector general report has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated Pentagon policy and risked the safety of U.S. servicemembers by sharing sensitive operational details over the encrypted messaging app Signal.

The review stems from an episode earlier this year in which an editor from The Atlantic was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat where Hegseth and other senior administration officials were discussing upcoming and ongoing U.S. strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The watchdog noted that Hegseth declined to be interviewed and provided only a limited set of messages, forcing investigators to rely partly on screenshots published earlier in the press. In a written response to the investigators, Hegseth argued that he had the authority to declassify the inform