IG: Hegseth broke Pentagon rules using Signal to share strike details, though no classified info was released

By Fox News · Fox News

A Pentagon inspector general report concluded that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth sent sensitive, nonpublic strike information over the encrypted app Signal using his personal phone, a violation of department policy, even as the watchdog affirms he has broad authority to classify or declassify military information. According to the report, Hegseth violated War Department protocol that bars officials from conducting government business on personal devices and from using commercial messaging applications to transmit nonpublic Pentagon information. Investigators found that Hegseth’s March 15 messages to a Signal chat — which included an uncleared journalist — closely tracked timelines contained in a SECRET//NOFORN operational email from Central Command. As the Pentagon’s top classification authority , he has the discretion to declassify information, but policy still prohibits using nonsecure, nonofficial channels to send it. "This Inspector General review is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew all along — no classified information was shared. This matter is resolved, and the case is closed," the department’s chief spokesperson said in response to the report. HEGSETH MAINTAINS WHITE HOUSE BACKING AMID 'SMEAR CAMPAIGN' ALLEGING LIKELY OUSTER The secretary sent operational details roughly two to four hours before U.S. forces carried out a coordinated strike campaign on Houthi targets in Yemen. The IG found that doing so "risks potential compromise" and "could cause harm to DoD personnel and mission objectives ." "The Secretary sent information identifying the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory over an unapproved, unsecure network approximately 2 to 4 hours before the execution of those strikes. Although the Secretary wrote in his July 25 statement to the DoD OIG that 'there were no details that would endanger our troops or the mission,’" the report states. "If this information had fallen into the hands of…