Pete Hegseth was part of “multiple” unauthorized Signal group chats sharing sensitive Pentagon secrets, according to an inspector general’s report into the leak scandal.
One of the chat groups was tagged “Defense Team Huddle” and may have also included information about a planned military attack, officials told the inquiry.
Rather than using an encrypted government communication device, Hegseth posted on his personal cellphone, which the report says violated Defense Department protocol.
The declassified review’s condemnation of the Pentagon chief’s actions comes as he faces calls from Democratic lawmakers to face war crimes charges for allegedly issuing an order to kill everyone on board an alleged narco boat in the Caribbean in September.
The inspector general launched the Signal investigation in March after one of Hegseth’s chat groups inadvertently included a journalist with no security clearance.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, subsequently published some of the Signal messages referencing an imminent military mission against the Houthis in Yemen.
It wasn’t known that the secretary was allegedly involved in several messaging groups. And he refused to hand over his personal phone, claims the report by Acting DoD Inspector General Steven Stebbins.
But it continues: “Five officials from the OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense) and OCIO ( Office of the Chief Information Officer) identified in interviews the existence of multiple additional Signal group chats in which the Secretary allegedly participated to conduct official DoD business and transmit nonpublic DoD information.
“Two officials stated that they were part of several group chats, and one of them stated that the Secretary and others used the chats to coordinate meetings, respond to media inquiries, or alert staff to check their official email accounts.
“One official also stated that they were part of a Signal group chat on their personal cell phone titled ‘Defense Team Huddle,’ which included non-DoD personnel, but the official did not provide us with copies of the messages.”
The report added: “All of the officials we spoke with stated that the Secretary participated in these additional group chats using his personal cell phone, not a government-furnished electronic device.”
It said one official claimed Hegseth “posted the same sensitive operational information concerning the Houthi attack plans on the ‘Defense Team Huddle’ group chat. As a result, we requested copies of messages from these other Signal group chats, as well as access to the Secretary’s personal cell phone. However, a senior official in the Secretary’s office stated that the Secretary would not provide access to his personal cell phone.”
Stebbins writes that Hegseth “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.
“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,” he added.
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