The Department of Defense inspector general’s report on the Signalgate scandal reveals that Secretary of State Pete Hegseth’s actions endangered the lives of American troops by revealing key military data.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the upcoming report by the independent watchdog determined that Hegseth was in violation of department policy by using a personal device for official business. Hegseth discussed ongoing military operations against the Houthi military group in Yemen on a chat that included a journalist from the Atlantic along with Vice President JD Vance and other Cabinet officials.
“Accountability” by Nick Anderson
The Post revealed that Hegseth, perhaps aware that the report would incriminate him, would not sit for interviews with the inspector general and did not provide investigators with his logs of the group chat.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell claimed in a statement to the outlet that the report showed “TOTAL exoneration” of Hegseth and that the matter is “resolved” and “the case is closed.” This is false. The report shows that concerns about the chat were warranted and that the Trump administration put lives in danger.
Hegseth received a vote of confidence from President Donald Trump earlier in the week and has spent months dismissing the concerns about his leadership, even as scandals and controversies pile up. Trump stood by Hegseth during his nomination process even as issues of alleged abuse, drunkenness, financial impropriety, and assault emerged.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner underlined the problem in a statement criticizing Hegseth.
“Secretary Hegseth endangered the lives of American pilots based aboard the USS Harry S. Truman as they prepared to launch a mission against terrorist targets. By sharing classified operational details on an unsecure group chat on his personal phone, he created unacceptable risks to their safety and to our operational security,” Warner said.
Warner said Hegseth’s actions put servicemembers at “unnecessary risk” and called for him to resign or to be fired by Trump.
Sen. Mark Kelly
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who served in the first Gulf War, echoed Warner’s concerns. “It's not too hard to see how our adversaries can get that information and pass it on, to the Houthies in this case, and put those lives at risk,” he told NPR.
The report is coming out at the same time that Hegseth and Trump have been trying to quiet concerns that they authorized war crimes in the Caribbean Sea. The administration has been unable to keep its story straight about what precisely occurred when a second strike was ordered against a target that was hit by a U.S. missile strike. Trump and his team have claimed the U.S. is after narco terrorists but has offered no public evidence to substantiate their argument.
The series of scandals, along with administration rhetoric about military action against Venezuela, are what has compelled a group of Democrats to tell the troops they are under no obligation to follow illegal orders. The military swears an oath to defend the Constitution and the military code, not to unquestioningly follow the orders of Trump and his subordinates like Hegseth.
Hegseth has overseen the removal of independent reporters from the Pentagon beat, after journalists refused to sign on to policies that would allow Hegseth to censor their work. Those reporters have been replaced with right-wing influencers and propagandists—people who won’t accurately cover Hegseth’s actions that put the military in danger.
