The Pentagon Inspector General expanded his investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the double-encrypted app Signal.
Steven Stebbins took over as Acting Inspector General after President Trump fired the previous IG and 17 other inspectors general.
Stebbins was first appointed to his position in 2015.
Pete Hegseth has been under heavy attack since before his confirmation hearing and the leaks keep coming.
Anonymous sources previously told The Wall Street Journal that Pete Hegseth brought his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, to two meetings with foreign military officials, during which they discussed sensitive information.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Hegseth, a private citizen, was present at a meeting at the Pentagon when Pete Hegseth met with U.K. Secretary of Defense John Healey in early March.
The Pentagon Inspector General expanded his probe following The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Hegseth’s wife and brother participating in Signal chat groups.
“The Pentagon inspector general has expanded an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sharing of military plans to a second Signal chat that included his wife and brother, according to a congressional aide and another person familiar with the inquiry,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
“The DOD OIG’s evaluation of the secretary of defense’s reported use of a commercially available messaging application for official business remains ongoing, and as such, I am unable to speak about the scope or timeline to protect the integrity of the process,” a DOD Office of Inspector General spokesperson told ABC News.
Earlier this month Stebbins announced an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal.
IG Stebbins’ memo informed Pete Hegseth that he is under investigation to determine whether he violated policy by discussing the Houthi strikes in Yemen over Signal.
The investigation was launched after the top Senators on the Senate Armed Service Committee, Roger Wicker (R) and Jack Reed (D), made a request to the Pentagon’s Inspector General.
“The purpose of this memorandum is to notify you that we are initiating the subject evaluation. We are conducting this evaluation in response to a March 26, 2025 letter I received from the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, requesting that I conduct an inquiry into recent public reporting on the Secretary of Defense’s use of an unclassified commercially available messaging application to discuss information pertaining to military actions in Yemen in March 2025,” Inspector General Stebbins wrote.
“The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business. Additionally, we will review compliance with classification and records retention requirements,” Stebbins wrote.
“We may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds. We plan to perform this evaluation in accordance with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency “Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation,” Stebbins said.
President Trump’s (now fired) National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal chat group where Pete Hegseth discussed successful strikes on Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
Pete Hegseth was blamed for not noticing Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the Signal chat group with other high-level Trump Administration officials.
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