Months after a group of Trump administration officials established a Signal group chat to discuss classified military intelligence related to a military strike in Yemen, a report from the Pentagon’s inspector general, Steven Stebbins, has been released. The investigation, which spanned eight months, concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not follow Department of Defense (DoD) policies. It found that he used an unapproved commercially available messaging application to communicate nonpublic DoD information.
The report highlighted the potential risk of compromising sensitive DoD information due to this communication method. Although it recommended a review of classification procedures, it did not suggest any punitive actions against Hegseth. Instead, it mentioned that another report proposed “corrective actions” that, once implemented, would align with departmental requirements.
Hegseth’s response to the investigation, provided in a July statement, indicated that he only shared “nonspecific general details” about the military strike and he declined to participate in interviews. The investigation faced challenges because the auto-delete function of the Signal app limited the recovery of chat discussions, necessitating reliance on reporting from journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic for portions of the record.
An excerpt from the report noted that a request for Hegseth’s communications around March 15, 2025, resulted in a partial release of messages from his personal cell phone, yet some messages were lost due to auto-deletion settings. Consequently, the investigation utilized publicly posted transcripts of the chat.
In a tweet following the report’s release, Hegseth claimed that it showed “No classified information. Total exoneration.” However, Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona pointed out that the report indicated Hegseth was in violation of certain DoD regulations, leaving the interpretation of legality open to discussion.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/838582/signalgate-pentagon-oig-report-pete-hegseth