U.S. Major General left classified war maps on European train, but that’s not even the most embarrassing thing in the Inspector General’s report

A new report from the Defense Department’s Inspector General has detailed serious allegations against now-retired Major General Antonio Aguto. The report says he left maps classified as “SECRET” on a European train and suffered a drunken concussion right before a high-level meeting with then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

According to Mediaite, Aguto was in charge of coordinating U.S. assistance for Ukraine from December 2022 to September 2024. The incident with the classified maps happened after he had visited Ukraine. According to the report, the maps were stored in a “black, plastic, unsecured cylindrical tube” that was about 1.5 to 3 feet long.

Aguto stated in the report, “I used these maps quite frequently regardless of where I’m at to brief officials on the status of what’s going on in Ukraine, uh which is my job.” However, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink had issued an order in July 2022 stating that only “diplomatic couriers” or “specially authorized nondiplomatic couriers” were allowed to carry such sensitive information.

The alcohol incident raises even bigger concerns about Aguto’s judgment

Even though Aguto allegedly handed the maps to his staff during the journey, the Inspector General’s report found “insufficient evidence” to identify who actually had them when they were left on the train. The documents were recovered one day later by Ukrainian nationals when the train returned to Kyiv. This incident comes at a time when U.S. foreign policy tensions are running high.

Beyond the mishandled documents, the report also found that Aguto engaged in an “overindulgence in alcohol” while in Kyiv. He reportedly drank from “two bottles of alcohol” with a companion whose name has been redacted in the released version of the report.

After returning to his hotel room, evidence cited in the report shows that Aguto’s intoxication caused him to fall, resulting in a concussion. This injury affected his performance the very next day, May 14, 2024, right before his scheduled meeting with Secretary Blinken.

A witness reported a “very strong smell of alcohol” on Aguto during that time. The concussion directly impacted his ability to perform ahead of a high-level diplomatic meeting, raising serious questions about his judgment. The U.S. government has faced other damaging missteps in its public image abroad in recent months as well.

The Inspector General’s report outlines multiple serious breaches, including the improper transport of classified documents across international borders and conduct unbecoming of a senior military officer during a critical period of U.S. involvement in the Ukraine conflict.