The Pentagon’s inspector general has received evidence that the military plans shared from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s Signal account to a group chat earlier this year were taken from a US Central Command document that was marked classified at the time, according to two people familiar with the ongoing review.
The Pentagon watchdog, which launched a review in April of Hegseth’s use of the commercial messaging app to share information related to US military operations in Yemen, obtained the document in the early days of its investigation, the sources said. The document was marked Secret/NOFORN, meaning no foreign nationals should see it.
The IG’s possession of the document with its original classification markings appears to further undercut Hegseth’s claims that nothing classified was shared in the Signal chat, which included several other Cabinet members and Vice President JD Vance. Similar details were shared from Hegseth’s phone in a second Signal chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, CNN has reported.
In a statement, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell again denied that any classified information was shared via Signal.
“This Signal narrative is so old and worn out, it’s starting to resemble Joe Biden’s mental state. The Department stands behind its previous statements: no classified information was shared via Signal,” Parnell said. “As we’ve said repeatedly, nobody was texting war plans and the success of the Department’s recent operations–from Operation Rough Rider to Operation Midnight Hammer–are proof that our operational security and discipline are top notch.”
A spokesperson for the Office of the Inspector General declined to comment, noting the IG’s long-standing policy of not commenting on ongoing oversight projects.
The Washington Post first reported the news.
The information disclosed on Signal on March 15 included details about the timing, choreography and assets involved in pending US strikes against the Houthi rebel group, according to the sources and a transcript of the chat first revealed by The Atlantic. CNN reported at the time what the IG has now evidence of — that the information was classified.
The inspector general has also been asking witnesses whether anyone else could have physically entered the information into the Signal chat at Hegseth’s request, using his phone, according to the sources.
Hegseth was at his residence in Tennessee at the time the information was sent on March 15, the sources said.
One witness also told investigators that they recalled being a part of about a dozen separate Signal chats that included Hegseth, according to one of the sources.
Hegseth told lawmakers during a hearing in June that he could not discuss in a public setting the classification level of the information shared to the Signal chat, despite arguing at the same time that it was not classified.
“You can very well disclose whether or not it was classified,” Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton said at the time.
“What’s not classified is that it was an incredibly successful mission,” Hegseth replied.
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