DoD Inspector General Launches Probe Into Pete Hegseth’s Use of Signal — Defying White House Statement That Leaked Chat Case is ‘Closed’
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
The acting inspector general for the Pentagon announced an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the signal app to discuss potentially classified information with other members of the Trump cabinet last month.
Steven Stebbins, in a memo released on Thursday obtained by Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin and others, announced a probe into Hegseth over a discussion about attacking Houthi targets in Yemen on the commercial app.
News of the conversation was reported last week when The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg reported he had been mistakenly added to a group chat on the topic.
In the conversation, Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and others discussed retaliatory strikes on the Houthis.
In the memo obtained by Griffin, Stebbins notified the defense secretary of the “Evaluation of the Secretary of Defense’s Reported Use of a Commercially Available Messaging Application for Official Business.”
Stebbins’s memo read:
The purpose of this memorandum is to notify you that we are initiating the subject evaluation. We are conducting this evaluation in response to a March 26, 2025 letter I received from the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, requesting that I conduct an inquiry into recent public reporting on the Secretary of Defense’s use of an unclassified commercially available messaging application to discuss information pertaining to military actions in Yemen in March 2025.
The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business. Additionally, we will review compliance with classification and records retention requirements. We may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds. We plan to perform this evaluation in accordance with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency “Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the White House had shut the book on the controversy. Leavitt was asked if Waltz’s job was in jeopardy after his office added Goldberg to the chat.
“As the president has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team,” she replied. “And this case has been closed here at the White House as far as we are concerned.”
