Overview

• The Daily Princetonian identified eight significant instances of plagiarism in Pete Hegseth’s senior thesis, including verbatim copying and uncredited material.
• One example flagged includes a sentence nearly identical to a 2001 Washington Post article about President Bush’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks.
• Plagiarism detection tools highlighted 12 passages in total, though only eight were deemed significant following expert manual review.
• While all consulted experts agree the thesis violated Princeton’s academic honesty standards, they differ on whether the infractions were serious or minor.
• The Pentagon dismissed the allegations as politically motivated, and Princeton lacks mechanisms to address academic misconduct by alumni years after graduation.