A damning investigation by the Pentagon's independent inspector general has concluded that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated departmental policy and recklessly jeopardized American military personnel by using an unsecured messaging app to discuss sensitive combat operations. The report scrutinizes Hegseth's actions during "Operation Rough Rider," a major U.S. airstrike campaign against Houthi targets in Yemen launched in March 2025.
The watchdog found that Hegseth, using his personal cell phone on the commercial Signal app, disclosed precise operational details, including the quantity of manned aircraft and the timing of strikes, hours before their execution over hostile territory. The report states this action "created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots". Investigators warned that if such information had been intercepted by adversaries like the Houthis, they could have countered U.S. forces or moved assets to avoid attack.
The scandal, dubbed "Signalgate," erupted when Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to a high-level Signal group chat titled "Houthi PC small group". This chat, created by then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other top officials. Hegseth used this forum to share specifics about upcoming strikes, details which the inspector general confirmed largely restated classified information from a secure military email.
Facing investigation, Hegseth employed tactics that obstructed transparency. He refused to be interviewed by investigators, submitting only a written statement. Furthermore, because messages in the chat were set to auto-delete, the Pentagon could only provide a partial record, forcing investigators to rely on transcripts published by The Atlantic for a complete account. This evasion extended to his public defense, where he claimed "total exoneration" despite the report's clear findings of policy violations.
The findings expose profound hypocrisy. As a former Fox News host, Hegseth was a vocal critic of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, declaring in 2016 that anyone who mishandled sensitive information should be fired "on the spot". His own actions, however, demonstrate a dismissive attitude toward security protocols meant to protect troops.
This sense of impunity is reinforced by the political response. While some Democratic lawmakers have called for his resignation, the official Pentagon response—crafted by spokesman Sean Parnell—brazenly labeled the critical report a "TOTAL exoneration". This mirrors Hegseth's survival of previous controversies, including the creation of a separate Signal chat that included his wife and brother to discuss the same military operations.
The reckless communications occurred within a military campaign that has been criticized as exorbitantly costly and strategically ineffective. The "Operation Rough Rider" strikes, which President Trump vowed would bring "hell" upon the Houthis, burned through hundreds of millions of dollars in munitions with limited long-term success. Analysts note the Houthis, resilient after a decade of war, have reinforced their underground arsenals and viewed the U.S. bombardment as a rallying cry rather than a deterrent.
The campaign, which temporarily disrupted global shipping to protest the war in Gaza, ultimately ended in a ceasefire by May 2025, with the Houthis resuming attacks on shipping by July. The inspector general's report thus highlights not only a catastrophic failure in operational security by the nation's top defense official but also aligns with a broader pattern of aggressive, costly, and ultimately unsuccessful U.S. military interventions.