A DoD watchdog has initiated an investigation into Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for using the Signal app for government discussions. The probe follows concerns raised by Senators about whether classified information was shared and possible violations of Pentagon security protocols. The investigation was spurred by a reported incident where Hegseth and other officials discussed military strategies with a journalist inadvertently included in a private chat. The Secretary's and other officials' insistence that no rules were broken and the plans were unclassified is under scrutiny.
In a Thursday memorandum, the dept's acting Inspector General (IG) Steven Stebbins wrote that a probe will be carried out in response to a letter last month from the two ranking members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The chat detailed targets, the timing of the attack, the aircraft used, and other information one might assume would ordinarily be classified.
All have since insisted no rules requiring the preservation of government documents were broken; some of the messages were set to auto-delete.
The existence of the group was embarrassing given past Republican opposition to public officials using private communications services.
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