Pete Hegseth put American troops' lives at risk by breaking Pentagon rules, finds official probe
By Elina Shirazi
Daily Mail
Dec 3, 2025
Pete Hegseth put troops lives in danger by sharing sensitive war plans on Signal in March earlier this year, a classified Inspector General report revealed.
The leaked plans detailed US military operations targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, putting Hegseth at fault, according to four sources familiar with the contents of the report, CNN reports.
Steven Stebbins, the acting Inspector General of the United States Department of Defense, noted in his report that the defense secretary has the authority to declassify information.
Hegseth has claimed on several occasions that he shared the details as an operational decision made in the moment.
The Pentagon lead declined sitting for an interview with the Inspector General, instead sending his response to the report for review in writing, a source close to Hegseth told Daily Mail.
This fresh report comes amid pressure the Pentagon is facing over the alleged war crimes accusation amid reports that Hegseth ordered a second strike on a Venezuelan boat that killed two men.
The Pentagon and White House shot down the report, claiming that Adm. Frank Bradley, not Hegseth, made the decision to launch that second strike to kill the men who had survived the first strike.
The signal investigation found that Hegseth should not have used the messaging app and that senior Defense Department officials need better training on protocols, sources say.
Signal is encrypted but is not permitted for communicating classified informat
A legal source close to Hegseth told Daily Mail that Hegseth declassified the information, although there is no written or recorded verbal record of him doing so.
The source asserts that since Hegseth is the original classifying authority, he has the digression to declassify something –– 'even if it's not a good idea.'
'The only caveat to that would be if he revealed something by the CIA. But it is clear that did not happen here – it was all operational DOD plans, not CIA,' a legal source familiar with the process told Daily Mail.
The real–time military plans were, however, so specific with details that one message sent to the chat even mentioned timing, saying, 'This is when the first bomb will drop.'
The de–classified version of the IG report is supposed to be released Thursday for the public to view.
The classified report was sent to Congress on Tuesday
The case was referred to Inspector General Stebbins after the first official request by Senate Armed Services Committee leaders back in March.
The investigation was officially launched a month later after Senators Roger Wicker and Jack Reed inquired into whether Hegseth disclosed classified information on the encrypted messaging app.
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.
Hegseth had created another Signal chat with 13 people that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the same strike, The Associated Press reported.
Multiple current and former military officials told the AP there was no way details with that specificity, especially before a strike took place, would have been OK to share on an unsecured device.
The inspector general opened its investigation into Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee´s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
Some veterans and military families also raised concerns, citing the strict security protocols they must follow to protect sensitive information.
The Houthi rebels had started launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in late 2023 in what their leadership had described as an effort to end Israel´s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Their campaign greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.
Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April that what he shared over Signal was 'informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things.'
During a congressional hearing in June, Hegseth was pressed multiple times by lawmakers over whether he shared classified information and if he should face accountability if he did.
Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and Marine veteran, asked Hegseth whether he would hold himself accountable if the inspector general found that he placed classified information on Signal.
Hegseth would not directly say, only noting that he serves 'at the pleasure of the president.'
The Pentagon did not respond for comment.
4 comments:
Thousands of police officers were taught to Double Tap. The Media has carried this nonsense too far.
Now you've really gone off the rails. Comparing double tapping with a handgun to two airstrikes is just plain crazy. Besides that the second airstrike occurred only after two survivors were seen clinging to the wreckage. Because you continue to have your head stuck up Trump's ass, you're trying to make chicken soup out of chicken shit.
I like chicken soup. 45-47 has the authority to protect the USA.
The Daily Smell cannot be counted on to provide reliable and accurate news. Copying and pasting a super market tabloid is not blogging.
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