Report from the Pentagon's internal watchdog Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of Signal could be made public this week, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News, months after Hegseth and several other senior Trump administration officials accidentally included a journalist in a group chat on a messaging app to discuss strikes in Yemen.
A copy of the Pentagon inspector general's report has been sent to Congress, and a redacted and unclassified version is expected to be made public as early as Thursday, the source said.
Axios first reported the planned release.
Probe started eight months ago at the request of legislators. Acting Inspector General Stephen Stebbins said in an April memo that his agency sought to “determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD employees are complying with DoD policies and procedures on the use of a commercial messaging application for official purposes.”
A few days earlier, The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg disclosed that he was added to a Signal chat for 18 people, which administration officials was used to discuss details of a secret bombing operation against the Houthis, the group that controls much of Yemen.
Lyrics published by Goldberg — posted in a chat room called “Small PC Houthi Group” — apparently included details from Hegseth's account about the timing of the strikes and the aircraft used, as well as updates from the account of then-national security adviser Michael Walz and messages from Vice President J.D. Vance.
The National Security Council later confirmed that the messages were genuine, although the White House claimed that the chat messages were not classified. At the time, President Trump stood by his staff.
Waltz, who was later transferred to the post of ambassador to the UN. admitted that he created a chat groupcalling the situation “embarrassing” but adding that he was unsure how Goldberg's number was added.
Incident caused a backlash from Democratswho demanded to know how a reporter was accidentally included in a seemingly very sensitive discussion and whether security has been compromised. Signal popular because its end-to-end encryption technology makes it difficult for third parties to view messages, although human error poses a risk to any messaging platform and experts warn of phishing attacks through Signal and other apps.
Over the summer, CBS News reported that the inspector general had received evidence that messages sent from Hegseth's account. items included from a secret email. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said at the time that the department stood by its previous statements that “no classified information was transmitted through Signal.”
Other critics question whether Signal messages will be preserved under records laws. Goldberg wrote that some messages were supposed to disappear after a week.
Stebbins, the Pentagon inspector general, said in April that his team would review whether users were complying with “record classification and retention requirements.”
In April Sources told CBS News that Hegseth shared details about the strikes in Yemen in a second private Signal group that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The report is expected to be released at delicate moment for Hegseth. Last week The Washington Post reported that the attack was on September 2 on a suspected drug ship in the Caribbean involved multiple strikes, with the military reportedly launching a follow-up strike to kill a couple of survivors because Hegseth allegedly said the operation was supposed to kill everyone. The Trump administration has confirmed the second strike, but denies it was ordered by Hegseth.
Democratic lawmakers demanded more details and suggested that ordering the killing of shipwreck survivors could constitute a war crime. Hegseth said the strikes were legal and that the subsequent strike was ordered by the officer in charge of the operation, Admiral Frank Bradley.
