Hegseth Targets Ig Investigations As Signalgate Report Looms

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sprinkled several new rules into his Tuesday speech to military leaders that will carry more serious consequences than grooming and exercise — likely undermining the department’s inspectors general just as a report on the Pentagon chief’s own behavior wraps up.

The changes call into question the credibility of the office ahead of an upcoming report on Hegseth’s controversial release of sensitive information in a Signal group chat about military strikes in Yemen. They include new restrictions on how IGs process complaints and when they should provide updates on investigations, likely reducing the number of both.

The move, part of a wider Trump administration effort to lessen the role of inspectors general and legal advisers, threatens to further weaken a key federal watchdog and discourage troops from coming forward with concerns about military safety and conduct.

“Whistleblowers provide critically important information,” said Robert Storch, who served as the Pentagon’s inspector general until President Donald Trump fired him and other independent inspectors general in January. “It’s particularly important in a department of the size and complexity of the DOD that people who are on the front lines — and in the case of the DOD they may literally be on the front line — be encouraged and empowered to come forward to report when they see something they reasonably think is wrong.”

Hegseth said the changes are needed to address what he called “inefficient and inconsistent” policies within the inspector general’s office.

But the moves could actually increase bureaucratic headaches. The new mandates set a first-ever timeline on how long it should take to process complaints — seven duty days — which could lead to the rejection of more cases. The IG will also need to provide updates on investigations to those involved every two weeks, another burdensome task that could increase workloads and potentially reduce the number of investigations.

“This reflects a hostility to a complex process,” said a defense official familiar with the process, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

Pentagon spokesperson Joel Valdez referred to Hegseth’s Sept. 30 memo outlining the changes. The Defense Department’s IG office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

It’s not clear if or when the department will make the report on Hegseth’s Signal incident public, or whether the new rules will have any effect on the investigation.

The IG offices can receive dozens of complaints and tips each week that take time to process and evaluate. The early stages involve assessing if an investigation is warranted and include interviews, requests for documents and research “that’s neither easy nor immediate,” the official said.

Dan Meyer, a former Pentagon IG official, said a new requirement for complaints to meet a higher bar — that there be “credible evidence” for it to proceed — could result in fewer investigations.

Cases that arrive as just a few sentences in an email, which investigators routinely use as a starting point to uncover major problems, may now be dismissed outright due to time constraints, he said.

Hegseth, in his Tuesday speech, said the watchdog office “has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver’s seat.”

The IG overhaul calls for punishments for complaints that lack “credible evidence, that are frivolous, or that knowingly include false information,” according to the memo.

But officials from Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group that focuses on sexual assault and whistleblower protections in the military, questioned Hegseth’s focus on the legitimacy of reports. They noted that department leaders have not produced any evidence showing the issue is a significant or increasing problem.

A Defense Department report on sexual assaults in the military found that about one-third of complaints in 2024 did not have sufficient evidence to proceed. Less than 1 percent were deemed to be “unfounded” or false.

“If you’re serious about waste fraud and abuse, you want to create as many avenues as possible for individuals to come forward, but it’s obvious [Hegseth] doesn’t want that,” said Nancy Parrish, the organization’s CEO. “This is a new paradigm shift of blaming the accuser, not the accused.”

Moves seen as paring back the Pentagon watchdog’s independence could also run afoul of lawmakers, who frequently request investigations by inspectors general and rely on their findings for oversight. The probe into Hegseth’s use of Signal came after a bipartisan request for a review by GOP Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and top committee Democrat Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

Reed argued Friday that Hegseth’s changes were part of a broader administration effort meant to curtail oversight of legally questionable moves.

“When you’re trying to ignore the law, circumvent the law,” Reed said, “it helps not to have anybody watching you.”

Joe Gould and Connor O’Brien contributed to this report.