The Pentagon’s internal watchdog has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. military personnel and their missions in danger by using the encrypted Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a strike against Houthi militants in Yemen, as per AP News. Using an unsecured personal device for details that specific is awful for operational security, and the report agreed that Hegseth violated Pentagon policy by using his personal device for official business.
The report recommended better training for all Pentagon officials following the findings. However, the situation gets complicated quickly. Here is the key loophole: the defense secretary has the inherent ability to declassify material, and the report did not find that he did so improperly, according to one person familiar with the findings.
This prompted the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, to issue a statement calling the entire review a “TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth” because it “proves what we knew all along — no classified information was shared.” President Trump clearly agrees, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirming the president “stands by” Hegseth and that the probe affirms operational security “was not compromised.”
From what it seems, Hegseth is walking on eggshells at the moment
So, what exactly did Hegseth share? In at least two separate Signal chats, he provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop. Crucially, he shared this information before the men and women carrying out the attacks on behalf of the United States were even airborne. Multiple current and former military officials have told AP that details with that level of specificity, especially before a strike takes place, would absolutely not be okay to share on an unsecured device.
Signal, while encrypted, is not authorized for carrying classified information and is not part of the Pentagon’s secure communications network. The defense secretary’s use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was accidentally added to one Signal text chain by then-national security adviser Mike Waltz.
That initial chat included high-level officials like Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Hegseth had also created a separate chat with 13 people, including his wife and brother, where he shared similar details of the same strike.
Hegseth has consistently defended his actions, asserting that the information was unclassified. He views the entire investigation as a partisan exercise and declined to sit for an interview with the inspector general, instead providing a written statement. When asked about the probe, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters that “we believe that this is a witch hunt and a total sham and being conducted in bad faith.”
This isn’t the only serious investigation Hegseth is facing right now. Lawmakers are also looking into a separate news report that a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea may have killed survivors after Hegseth allegedly issued a verbal order to “kill everybody.” Hegseth defended that strike as emerging in the “fog of war.”
Published: Dec 4, 2025 01:30 pm