Pentagon watchdog found Hegseth used his personal phone and Signal for nonpublic strike details
Reporting and findings
- documented
While serving in Trump's Cabinet, Pete Hegseth sent sensitive, nonpublic operational information about the March 15 Yemen strikes from his personal phone through Signal; the Defense Department inspector general found that this violated DoD Instruction 8170.01 and created risk to personnel and mission objectives, while recognizing Hegseth's original-classification authority and not making a finding that his transmitted summary remained classified.
- U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General: Evaluation of the Secretary of Defense's Reported Use of a Commercially Available Messaging Application for Official BusinessExecutive summary, pp. i–ii; findings on personal device, Signal, policy compliance, and risk
- U.S. Department of Defense: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Begins 'Most Important Deployment of My Life'Hegseth's Trump-selected Cabinet role
Summary and current status
The inspector general found a device-and-messaging-policy violation and operational risk while leaving the transmitted summary's classification unresolved.
Final inspector-general report issued December 2, 2025
People and organizations
- Pete HegsethDefense secretary evaluated by the DoD inspector general
- Donald J. TrumpDonald Trump root
Relationships in this file
- Donald J. TrumpTrump Cabinet defense secretary in Signal inquiryPete Hegseth