'Signalgate' Inspector General Report Wants Just One Change to Avoid a Repeat Debacle

The United States Inspector General report reviewing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's text messaging mess recommends a single change to keep classified material secure. A United States Inspector General report publicly released today found that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth could have put US troops and military operations at risk by using the consumer messaging service Signal to share sensitive, real-time details in March about a planned attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen. The IG first shared the classified report with Congress on Tuesday. The report contains only one direct recommendation: that the chief of US Central Command's Special Security Office "review the command's classification procedures for compliance" with Department of Defense regulations "and issue additional procedures, as necessary, to ensure proper portion marking of classified information." The report also references another IG publication about use of "non-DOD-controlled electronic messaging systems" and points to its recommendations that DOD "improve training for senior DOD officials on the proper use of electronic devices."