Source: IG completes report on Hegseth Signal app, sends findings to lawmakers

A lengthy review into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of the messaging platform Signal has concluded, with its classified results now submitted to Congress, according to someone familiar with the investigation. The Defense Department's inspector general also prepared unclassified findings, which are expected to be made public later this week.

Last March, The Atlantic exposed a Signal group chat that included members of former President Donald Trump's national security team, such as Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and Trump's then-national security adviser Mike Waltz.

According to reports, Waltz mistakenly added an The Atlantic editor to the chat, which featured discussions about a planned military strike on Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen. In the messages, later confirmed as authentic by the White House, Hegseth outlined the timing and execution of the operation, mentioning the use of F-18 jets and Tomahawk missiles. At one point, he wrote, "THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP," specifying 1415 (2:15 p.m.) for the March 15 strike.

Sources indicate Hegseth shared similar operational details in another chat that included his wife, who is not affiliated with the Pentagon. On March 15, U.S. forces carried out the strike as described, targeting Houthi infrastructure in Yemen, including missile sites, radar stations, and air defense systems.

In response to the exposure, Hegseth and his spokesperson Sean Parnell consistently stated that the messages contained no classified material. CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also testified that the Signal chats did not involve classified information. Parnell wrote on X on April 20, "There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story." In an April 22 Fox News interview, Hegseth described the content as "informal unclassified coordination for media purposes."

Last year, Senators Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the committee, requested the IG review regarding the handling of the information. Wicker remarked that the recently published information seemed sensitive enough that, in his view, it should have been classified.

Author: Sophia Brooks