Inspector General releases report on “Signalgate”, is Hegseth in trouble?
By Easton Martin | December 4, 2025
The recently released Signalgate report by the Department of Defense Inspector General sheds light on communications by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth regarding a planned airstrike in Yemen. According to the report, Hegseth used the messaging app Signal on his personal device to share details from official channels.
Importantly, the report notes that Hegseth is an original classification authority, which gives him the power to declassify information at his discretion.
The investigation did not definitively conclude that he improperly declassified the material or that he violated the law. While the report criticizes Hegseth for using an unapproved messaging platform, it stops short of calling the communications a criminal breach of classified material.
The IG report emphasizes that using personal apps for sensitive communication poses risks to operational security, but it leaves open the possibility that the information Hegseth shared was legally unclassified.
