Anticipated Release of Pentagon Report on "Signalgate"

/ CBS News

The Pentagon's inspector general has completed a report about an internal incident, known as 'Signalgate,' which could be publicly available as soon as this week. This follows events earlier this year, where key officials from the Trump administration unintentionally included a media correspondent in a group chat on the Signal app to discuss operations in Yemen.

Congress has received the full version of this report, but an edited and declassified edition might be shared with the public by Thursday, according to an informed source.

The release plan was initially covered by Axios.

This investigation commenced upon the request of several lawmakers. Acting Inspector General Steven Stebbins highlighted in a memo from April that his office aimed to examine to what extent the Defense Department complied with its own rules regarding using commercial messaging platforms for official matters.

Earlier that month, Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's head editor, revealed he had been mistakenly added to a Signal chat comprising 18 participants discussing a strategic mission to bomb the Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen.

The chat, identified as "Houthi PC small group," provided insights from Hegseth concerning the timing and means of the strikes, coupled with updates from Michael Waltz, the then National Security Advisor, and messages from Vice President JD Vance.

Afterward, the National Security Council acknowledged the messages as authentic, although the White House indicated they contained no classified content. At the time, President Trump defended his staff regarding the incident.

Since then, Waltz has transitioned to a diplomatic role at the United Nations. He later commented on the situation, acknowledging the incident's awkward nature but uncertain about how Goldberg's number was added to the chat.

The mix-up raised significant concerns among legislators, who pressed for explanations on how a journalist ended up in a high-level security conversation and investigated whether protocols had been breached. Despite Signal's robust encryption, which protects messages from third-party access, human error poses risks, and threats like phishing persist across such platforms.

During the summer, CBS News informed that evidence had surfaced suggesting messages from Hegseth's Signal account might have originated from a secure email. Yet, Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell reiterated the department's stance that no classified data had been transmitted via Signal.

Skeptics have additionally questioned whether these Signal messages were archived as per legal requirements. Goldberg suggested some communication was set to automatically erase after a week.

Steven Stebbins, in April, mentioned that his office would look into whether users complied with both classification and preservation obligations for records.

In another revelation in April, details emerged suggesting Hegseth had shared information on the Yemen operation in a separate, more personal Signal group that included his family and legal advisor.

Furthermore, the report's release coincides with news from The Washington Post about an alleged narcotics vessel in the Caribbean being subject to multiple attacks. The military reportedly undertook a secondary strike to ensure no survivors were left, allegedly at Hegseth's direction. However, the Trump administration clarified the subsequent strike was executed without Hegseth’s orders.

Democratic representatives demand further clarification, suggesting, if verified, an order to eliminate survivors could be deemed a war crime. Nonetheless, Hegseth claims all actions were lawful, emphasizing that Adm. Frank Bradley, the operational leader, initiated the follow-up strike.