Pentagon Inspector General Announces Internal Investigation of Hegseth’s Role in Chat Group Affair
The Pentagon’s Inspector General, Steven Stebbins, announced on Thursday an internal investigation into the role of Defense Secretary Mark Hegseth in the so-called chat group affair. Hegseth and other government officials had discussed a potential military strike against the Huthi in Yemen on the messaging app Signal, while a journalist had inadvertently been added to the group.
“The purpose of this assessment is to determine to what extent the Defense Secretary and other Pentagon officials have complied with the Department of Defense’s guidelines and procedures for using a commercial messaging application for official business” said Acting Inspector General Steven Stebbins in a notification to Hegseth.
In late March, the US magazine The Atlantic published the content of the chat group, revealing that Hegseth had discussed the military operation’s timeline, the sequence of bombings and the weapons systems used, about half an hour before the operation began. He also mentioned a targeted terrorist’s known location.
The Pentagon referred all questions to the Office of the Inspector General and deferred to the ongoing investigation. President Donald Trump expressed frustration when asked about the investigation, saying, “They’re bringing it up again. Mention it no more. Your editors probably – that’s just a wasted story.”
The Washington Post reported, citing government sources, that the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the head of the US Cyber Command, Timothy Haugh, had been removed from their positions, as well as his deputy, Wendy Noble. William Hartmann, the deputy head of the Cyber Command, was appointed as the interim NSA Director, with Sheila Thomas as his deputy, the newspaper said. The Pentagon and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.