According to POLITICO sources, the Pentagon's inspector general will publish two reports on Thursday. The first, relating to information held by Hegseth, stated that he had not violated government secrecy laws because he could legally declassify the information before sending it.
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However, it was found that Hegseth, sharing information about the ongoing operation against Yemen's Houthi rebels, compromised sensitive military information in a way that could endanger American soldiers and missions.
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The second report said the Pentagon still does not have a secure government messaging platform for real-time coordination, which insiders say makes top officials dependent on commercial applications that do not meet security requirements.
The reports conclude a nine-month investigation into the Pentagon chief's violation of agency standards for sharing classified information and endangering soldiers.
The inspector general conducted the investigation after Hegseth and other members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former national security adviser Mike Waltz, used a publicly available app to discuss military operations against Houthi militants in Yemen that accidentally included a journalist.
