(PLO)- The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General said it will investigate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to discuss US airstrikes in Yemen.
On April 3, the Pentagon ‘s Office of Inspector General said it would investigate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to discuss US airstrikes on the Houthis armed group (Yemen), according to CNN .
In a letter to Mr. Hegseth, Acting Inspector General of the Pentagon Office of Inspector General Steven Stebbins wrote that the goal of the investigation is to determine whether Mr. Hegseth and other Pentagon personnel “adhered to Department of Defense policies and procedures regarding the use of commercial messaging applications for official business.”
The investigation will also examine whether Mr. Hegseth followed rules on document classification and record keeping. The review will take place in Washington, DC, and at the headquarters of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in Florida.
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As part of the investigation, Hegseth may be required to provide documents for review by the Office of Inspector General, Stebbins said.
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee asked Stebbins to conduct the review after The Atlantic magazine editor-in -chief Jeffrey Goldberg said on March 24 that he had been added to a chat group of US officials on the messaging app Signal that was discussing the US air campaign against the Houthis.
The White House and Secretary Hegseth have not commented on the investigation.
Previously, the White House and a series of related officials tried to downplay the seriousness of the incident.
This week, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the case is closed.”
Top US officials insist that the information shared in the chat group is not classified.
“Messages from the Signal chat confirmed that no classified documents or operational plans were shared. The Secretary was simply updating the team on a plan that had been developed and reported through official channels,” said Hegseth’s spokesman, Sean Parnell.
(PLO)- The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General said it will investigate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to discuss US airstrikes in Yemen.
On April 3, the Pentagon ‘s Office of Inspector General said it would investigate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to discuss US airstrikes on the Houthis armed group (Yemen), according to CNN .
In a letter to Mr. Hegseth, Acting Inspector General of the Pentagon Office of Inspector General Steven Stebbins wrote that the goal of the investigation is to determine whether Mr. Hegseth and other Pentagon personnel “adhered to Department of Defense policies and procedures regarding the use of commercial messaging applications for official business.”
The investigation will also examine whether Mr. Hegseth followed rules on document classification and record keeping. The review will take place in Washington, DC, and at the headquarters of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in Florida.
×
As part of the investigation, Hegseth may be required to provide documents for review by the Office of Inspector General, Stebbins said.
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee asked Stebbins to conduct the review after The Atlantic magazine editor-in -chief Jeffrey Goldberg said on March 24 that he had been added to a chat group of US officials on the messaging app Signal that was discussing the US air campaign against the Houthis.
The White House and Secretary Hegseth have not commented on the investigation.
Previously, the White House and a series of related officials tried to downplay the seriousness of the incident.
This week, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the case is closed.”
Top US officials insist that the information shared in the chat group is not classified.
“Messages from the Signal chat confirmed that no classified documents or operational plans were shared. The Secretary was simply updating the team on a plan that had been developed and reported through official channels,” said Hegseth’s spokesman, Sean Parnell.
