Name: Watchdog found Hegseth jeopardized sensitive military information
Uploaded: 2025-12-04T00:25:09.438Z
Duration: 3 min 1 s
Description: Sources say the Pentagon watchdog found Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could have endangered American service members when he shared military information in a Signal group chat in March. Alex Plitsas, a former Pentagon official, joins The Daily Report to discuss.

Sources say the Pentagon watchdog found Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could have endangered American service members when he shared military information in a Signal group chat in March. Alex Plitsas, a former Pentagon official, joins "The Daily Report" to discuss.

Washington

A Pentagon watchdog has concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth potentially endangered American service members by sharing classified military information in a Signal group chat earlier in the year. The chat, which mistakenly included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, contained sensitive details from a classified email about U.S. military operations in Yemen.

Experts noted that the information shared could be considered top secret or secret and that using Signal, an unapproved medium for such communications, constituted a serious security breach. While there is no evidence adversaries intercepted the information, the act itself violated security protocols, and senior officials are expected to be held to the same standards as junior personnel.

Watchdog found Hegseth jeopardized sensitive military information

Returning to our top story, CBS News has learned the Pentagon watchdog found Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could have endangered American service members when he shared military information in that Signal group chat earlier this year. The full report is expected to be released tomorrow. It also says the information shared to the group, which accidentally included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, contained information from a classified email regarding military action in Yemen. Alex Pleitzis joins us now. He's a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and a former Pentagon official. Alex, thank you for being here. What is your reaction to the findings? So, not surprising. I was waiting for the watchdog to actually come out and establish the facts versus what's been leaked because it hadn't been confirmed. And so, it appears to be the transmission of classified national security information, which makes sense given the fact that it included the future movement and location of U.S. military assets and troops prior to the commencement of activities. So, under the definition, right, that would fall either under top secret or secret depending on the operation. And the definition for that is that it would cause exceptionally grave harm or grave harm to U.S. national security if it were to be disclosed. So, in this particular case, it was entered into a Signal chat, right? Signal is an encrypted app that's used to communicate very commonly in the community, but it's not an approved medium for transmitting classified national security information. So, it could have compromised the safety of U.S. troops in the process. How so? So, because it was transmitted outside of approved classified channels in which it would have been encrypted, it's possible that an adversary could have intercepted that and then they could have taken action ahead of time against U.S. forces or prepared defenses in the region. So, it doesn't appear that that took place, but the fact that it was transmitted in unapproved channels is, in fact, a violation. To your expertise, how significant is it whether it's classified, top secret, or secret? I mean, it's disclosure of national security information. It's classified. It should not have been in unapproved channels. Had that happened to a more junior person in the chain of command, they absolutely would have been reprimanded and in pretty serious trouble, security clearance, suspension, that type of thing. So, to have that come across, particularly with seniors in the room who held security clearances, who are not just political appointees, but have actually served in the military and have had to deal with this on a working basis, where some have claimed ignorance in the past in other situations like this, that excuse doesn't really work. And so, it is a pretty serious breach. So, what needs to happen to make sure it doesn't happen again? So, I mean, it's pretty clear that this cannot happen again in this or any other unapproved medium. At that point, it's the sitting Secretary of Defense. So, any reprimands would come from senior administration officials, whether it be the president, the chief of staff, national security advisor, somebody, but it works directly for the president. So, at that point, I imagine he was already counseled immediately after this transpired not to do this again. And it caused a lot of problems in particular. And it was Mike Waltz who had initiated the conversation, and he was removed as national security advisor not that long afterwards. So, you know, I think the White House had already reacted at that time and taken some action, even if it wasn't publicly stated that that was the reason for it. Okay. Alex, please just thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

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