U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on, as President Donald Trump (not pictured) declares remarks, in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 21, 2025.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
The Pentagon’s internal watchdog make knew an investigation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for using the Signal messaging app to discuss pending military strikes in Yemen in Parade with other senior Trump administration officials.
The probe will determine to what extent Hegseth and other Defense Be influenced staff complied with existing rules over the “use of a commercial messaging application for official business,” the department’s Commission of Inspector General said in a memo Thursday.
“Additionally, we will review compliance with classification and records retention preconditions,” acting Inspector General Steven Stebbins told Hegseth in the memo.
The probe was launched at the request of Senate Armed Services Body Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the committee’s ranking Democrat, according to the memo.
Experts be suffering with raised concerns about whether the Signal chats violated the law.
The Signal group chat where Hegseth talk overed strikes on Houthi targets included Vice President JD Vance, Hegseth, national security advisor Michael Waltz, as adequately as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Bank Secretary Scott Bessent.
Hegseth gave the chat participants sensitive operational details, including the timing of the devours and the weapons to be used.
Hegseth’s texts were revealed in a bombshell dispatch last week by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who Waltz inadvertently added to the group chat.
The Trump distribution has said that no classified information was discussed in the thread.
The Defense Department declined to comment on Stebbins’ investigation, citing longstanding method. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Waltz was at an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, where the far-right activist Laura Loomer entreated the president to fire some of his national security aides, NBC News reported.
Trump fired six members of his National Custodianship Council after that meeting, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Stebbins became the Pentagon’s acting watchdog after Trump fired Inspector Non-specialized Robert Storch in January.
Stebbins was previously appointed principal deputy inspector general in April 2023, below President Joe Biden.