Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an unusual technical setup installed so he could use his personal cellphone from inside his secure Pentagon office, according to a newly released watchdog report.
The finding comes from an investigation by Pentagon Inspector General Steven Stebbins into Hegseth’s use of the encrypted messaging app Signal to share sensitive information about US airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen earlier this year. The investigation concluded that Hegseth’s actions put US military personnel at risk.
In the report, released Thursday, the inspector general said Hegseth’s junior military assistant, acting at the secretary’s direction, “requested and oversaw the installation of a unique capability through which the secretary could access and control his personal cell phone from inside his secure office.”
The system — for which prototype photos were redacted in the report — was installed in late February 2025 and later removed by the end of April 2025.
According to the report, the setup allowed Hegseth to mirror and control his personal phone, which remained outside the secure office, by connecting it via cable to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor inside. The content of the phone could be accessed from the secure space without physically bringing the device inside.
In secure areas of the Pentagon, especially around senior officials’ offices, it is common to see lockers and storage boxes for phones and other personal devices. Department of Defense policy bans both personal and government mobile devices, including cellphones, from such secure spaces.
Because the system was removed before the inspector general’s team could fully examine it, the report said it was not possible to determine whether the setup met all Pentagon security and information assurance requirements.
Hegseth acknowledged requesting the system in a July statement to the inspector general’s office.
“It is true that upon taking this job, I asked my comms team whether it was possible to get access to my personal cell phone in my office,” he said, adding that his goal was to “more easily receive non-official, communications during the workday.”
“The comms team,” he continued, “prepared a compliant solution that would allow me this access while also maintaining proper security.”
The Secretary of Defense Communications Team maintained that the workaround complied with Department of Defense information security rules, arguing that it did not technically violate the prohibition on cellphones inside secure spaces because the physical device remained outside, the report said.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on the findings.
Stebbins’ probe into Hegseth’s use of Signal began after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was mistakenly added to group chats in which Hegseth shared sensitive operational details. Those chats included classified information from a SECRET/NOFORN email about the timing of US strikes and the assets that would carry them out.
The inspector general ultimately concluded that Hegseth’s use of the messaging app created unnecessary risk for US forces. Had the information been intercepted by an adversary, the report said, it could have jeopardized US military personnel and operations.
Hegseth previously argued in a statement to the inspector general’s office that “there were no details that would endanger our troops or the mission.” Investigators disagreed, writing that “the secretary’s actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed US mission objectives and potential harm to US pilots.”Thinking
