Hegseth put troops at risk by sharing sensitive plans on personal phone, Pentagon watchdog finds

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. troops at risk by sharing sensitive plans about an upcoming military strike in Yemen on his personal phone, according to a Pentagon inspector general’s report made public Thursday that criticized the use of unapproved messaging apps and devices across the Defense Department.

Hegseth had the authority to declassify the material he shared with others in a Signal chat, the watchdog found. But the release of details about the strike on Houthi militants violated internal Pentagon rules about handling sensitive information that could put service members or their missions in danger.

The report noted that the information that Hegseth sent — the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory about two hours to four hours before those strikes — “created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.”