Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth failed to order a routine investigation to determine whether he had risked damaging national security by discussing sensitive military information on Signal, according to a report.
Under normal circumstances, the Pentagon would launch a classification review and damage assessment following reports that sensitive defense information was disclosed, in order to determine whether any U.S. military or intelligence operations were compromised.
However, multiple sources told CNN that the former Fox & Friends Weekend host did not request such a probe after he was found to have used the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss secret plans for airstrikes targeting Houthi fighters in Yemen with several Trump administration and intelligence officials.
Instead, Hegseth was reportedly more focused on investigating who within the Pentagon was leaking damaging stories about him to the press, going so far as to demand that Defense Department staff, including senior military officials, take polygraph tests.
Details of Hegseth’s use of Signal to discuss sensitive military plans were first revealed by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was accidentally added to the Signal group chat.
Last week, a Pentagon inspector general report found that Hegseth had risked endangering the lives of American troops by discussing potential attacks on Houthi fighters via the messaging app. Hegseth did not sit for an interview with the inspector general, instead providing only a brief written statement.
Sources told CNN they expected a damage assessment or internal classification review to be authorized—especially since the inspector general was limited in how much it could examine, in part because of Hegseth’s lack of cooperation.
“One hundred percent a breach like that would warrant a top-to-bottom damage assessment by both DoD and the [intelligence community],” a former senior defense official told CNN.
A similar view was expressed by Irvin McCullough, director of national security at the Government Accountability Project, who noted that an inspector general does not conduct such assessments.
“I’d 100 percent expect a damage assessment,” McCullough told CNN. “If they did not do a damage assessment, I’d imagine it’s because the Original Classification Authority/originator determined there was no compromise.”
The inspector general report suggests Hegseth himself would likely have made that determination.
The Pentagon is also reported to have no plans to further investigate the so-called “Signalgate,” despite the damning findings against the embattled defense secretary.
Hegseth has attempted to portray the report’s findings as a “total exoneration” for him, insisting that “no classified information” was shared.
However, the report did not determine whether Hegseth had actually declassified the information he shared on Signal, only that he had the authority to do so as defense secretary.
A Pentagon official explained to the Daily Beast that the department did not conduct a damage assessment because the inspector general report found “no classified information was shared.”
