Pete Hegseth put the safety of U.S. servicemembers at risk when he used Signal to discuss sensitive military operations, according to a new report by the Pentagon’s inspector general. In light of the findings, we’re calling for Hegseth’s immediate resignation.
The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General began an investigation after we filed a lawsuit in March seeking records from the now-infamous Signalgate scandal. The report, which was released to the public yesterday, says that Hegseth violated department regulations and put troops in danger when he shared classified details about military strikes in Yemen in Signal group chats that included his spouse, brother, and a reporter. The report also noted Hegseth tried to avoid accountability by refusing to be interviewed by the inspector general during its investigation.
“The Defense Department’s inspector general report makes unmistakably clear that Secretary Hegseth’s reckless use of a private, auto-deleting messaging app for classified military discussions was a dangerous breach that threatened the lives of our U.S. service members and put our national security at risk,” our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said. “By sharing sensitive strike details in chats that included his family and a reporter, Hegseth violated basic security protocols and exemplified the very culture of evasion we warned about when we first went to court over Signalgate in March.”
We were the first organization to file a lawsuit in the Signalgate matter this spring. Since then, our litigation spurred the inspector general investigation, prompted a court order to preserve records, and exposed a broader pattern of recordkeeping violations across multiple Trump administration agencies.
Boat strikes could amount to war crimes
That’s not all on Hegseth, though. On Thursday, we filed suit against the departments of Defense and Justice for unlawfully withholding records about the Trump administration’s lethal strikes on boats they claim are associated with drug trafficking.
The strikes fit into Hegseth’s pattern of reckless disregard for protocols. On September 2, Hegseth reportedly issued a verbal order to “kill everybody” aboard a boat. The boat had already been struck once, and the second strike killed survivors who were reportedly clinging to debris. Legal and military experts have warned the strikes could amount to war crimes.
Trump’s “Chief Enforcer” allegedly destroyed public records
The House Judiciary Committee received reports that Ed Martin, the “chief enforcer” of Trump’s political agenda within the Justice Department, concealed or destroyed public records of his actions.
We sued the Justice Department for the urgent release of records involving Martin this week. As director of the Weaponization Working Group, Martin has reportedly been involved in bringing charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, among others. The public deserves to know if there is evidence that Martin is using his position to target Trump’s critics.
“If Ed Martin is hiding or destroying government records to conceal a campaign of political retribution, it isn’t simply a process concern — it’s a threat to the rule of law itself," Chukwu said.
SAVE expansion risks data security and voting rights
DHS asked for public comments on its plan to expand its immigration status database into a system containing personal information about all Americans, which election officials can use to search voters’ citizenship statuses.
The administration has refused to answer questions about exactly what information it is using in the data system, how reliable it is, or how it plans to keep that data secure. The system could be used to justify large-scale voter purges, including of lawfully registered voters. If someone is wrongfully removed from voter rolls, it could be difficult to reincorporate them, as they may not have easy access to documents proving their citizenship. We submitted a comment explaining our opposition.
“When an administration consistently signals that it believes too many people are participating in our elections, we have to pay close attention to what it builds in the name of ‘integrity,’” Chukwu said. “This plan heightens the risk of data breaches, identity theft, and inaccurate voter purges, putting people’s privacy and their voice in our democracy at risk.”
American Oversight in the news
Trump asks judge to keep blocking release of final report on classified documents probe (ABC News)
Why report finds Hegseth’s use of Signal risked putting US troops in danger (Bloomberg)
Homeland Security wants state driver’s license data for sweeping citizenship program (Stateline)
Other stories we’re following
Hegseth asked top admiral to resign after months of discord (Wall Street Journal)
Georgia prosecutor ends 2020 election interference case against Trump, allies (Washington Post)
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with ‘suspicious’ travel patterns (Associated Press)
