The Pentagon is delving further into the dispute over a group chat among Trump administration officials that detailed discussions about war strategies in Yemen.
The Department of Defense Inspector General, Steven Stibbins, stated in a memorandum his intention to look into matters related to the Defense Secretary. Pete Hegseth ' s inputs to the team discussion inadvertently included someone from the media. The disclosure of the investigation on Thursday followed several days after the Trump administration stated that the issue had been "resolved."
"The aim of this assessment is to ascertain the degree to which the Secretary of Defense and other Department of Defense staff adhered to the department’s guidelines and protocols regarding the utilization of a commercial messaging app for official duties," Stebbins stated.
The probe was launched at the request The ranking members from both the Republican and Democratic parties on the Senate Armed Services Committee—Senators Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island—noted that the reports about Hegseth and others raising concerns regarding "the potential misuse of unclassified networks for discussing classified and sensitive material."
Concerns regarding security have plagued the Department of Defense (DoD) ever since National Security Adviser Michael Waltz accidentally included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg in the group chat that also had Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance .
The fresh inquiry began mere days following White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s assertion that the issue had been resolved.
According to Leavitt on Monday, this case has been concluded here at the White House from our perspective.
Stebbins has been serving as the acting Inspector General for the Department of Defense since January when Trump dismissed the prior IG. amid a massive purge among the officials responsible for supervising the agency.