The Pentagon's watchdog has found that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth put US personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a strike against Houthi militants in Yemen, US outlets reported on Wednesday.
But Mr Hegseth has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, sources told CNN and AP.
The review by the Pentagon inspector general’s office – titled Evaluation of the Secretary of Defence’s Reported Use of a Commercially Available Messaging Application For Official Business – was sent to Congress on Tuesday night and an unclassified version of the report is set to be publicly released on Thursday.
The findings increase the pressure on the former Fox News Channel host after politicians had called for the independent inquiry into his use of the commercially available app.
It comes after a news report that a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean in September killed survivors after Mr Hegseth issuing a verbal order to "kill everybody". He has denied any direct role in attacking survivors.
“I watched that first strike live,” he said on Tuesday. “I didn’t stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs, so I moved on to my next meeting.”
In at least two Signal chats, Mr Hegseth provided the exact times of warplane launches and when bombs would be dropped – before those carrying out those attacks on behalf of the US were airborne.
Mr Hegseth's use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. It included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss March 15 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis.
Goldberg later wrote publicly about how Mr Hegseth discussed detailed attack plans against Houthi militants, including precise times and weapons platforms, on the encrypted but unsecured messaging app, rather than using a secure government channel.
The Pentagon chief had also started another Signal chat with 13 people that included his wife and brother, in which he shared similar details of the same strike, AP reported.
Mr Hegseth has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. “Nobody’s texting war plans,” he told reporters in March. “You know who sees war plans? I see them.” He previously described his Signal messages as “general updates” to “keep everybody informed".
The Wall Street Journal quoted Senator Mark Kelly as saying the report concluded that Mr Hegseth had breached some department regulations. Mr Kelly, a veteran, has come under fire from Mr Hegseth and the Trump administration for appearing in a video in which he and other legislators urged members of the military to disregard illegal orders.
