"US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth definitely broke the rules when he sent sensitive information to a Signal chat group, say Pentagon auditors, but he's not the only one using insecure messaging, and everyone needs better training. The Pentagon Office of Inspector General on Thursday released two reports, one specifically dealing with the "Signalgate" incident, and a second that found Hegseth's massive OPSEC failure was just the latest in a long line of similar failures among DoD employees with regard to the use of improper methods of communication."
"For those who've forgotten about Hegseth's Signal snafu, the incident involved sending sensitive operational details about airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen to a Signal group that included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. As any journalist would when catching wind of such a juicy story, Goldberg published a story about it, but withheld the messages in the interest of not publishing what may have been classified information. He later published the messages in a follow-up story after Trump administration officials, Hegseth included, denied that the content of the discussion was either classified or sensitive despite including a mission timeline as well as details about the types of aircraft and munitions being used."
"As anyone with a modicum of sense would think, those details are definitely sensitive. The DoD OIG believes so, at least, finding that the Signal messages repeated material taken from a USCENTCOM email labeled "SECRET//NOFORN" and contained operational details that should have been handled at the secret level. But here's the rub: As the ultimate DoD authority figure, Hegseth has unilateral authority to declare something declassified, even if, say, the email he pulled it from to share it on Signal marked it as secret."
Pentagon auditors concluded that Pete Hegseth violated rules by sending sensitive operational information into a Signal chat group. The Office of Inspector General released two reports: one examining the "Signalgate" incident and another documenting a broader pattern of DoD personnel using improper communication methods. Hegseth shared operational details about airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, including mission timelines and specifics on aircraft and munitions. The Signal messages repeated material from a USCENTCOM email labeled "SECRET//NOFORN" and contained details that should have been handled at the secret level. Auditors noted Hegseth claimed declassification authority but still found rule violations and urged better OPSEC training and controls.
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