Nothing to see here. There was no classified information. Not that I recall. It’s Pete’s fault. That last one wasn’t a quote, but it might as well have been. I’ll explain later.
Yesterday, a group of Trump’s finest faced members of the Senate Intelligence Committee for question about a group chat on the Application “Signal.” The app is encrypted but not secure in the sense that government communications that include classified information are required or at least expected to be.
That brings us to a key point. CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard repeatedly denied that the chat contained classified information.
“There were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time,” Gabbard testified under oath. Ratcliffe was similarly adamant in his denials at various points during Tuesday’s hearing.
That’s how they started. But…later, when pressed on whether the sensitive operational details for the forthcoming strikes against Iran-backed militants that Hegseth reportedly sent to the thread were classified, both top intelligence officials deferred to the defense secretary.
“With respect to the assertions and the allegations that there was strike packages or targeting information or things that relate to DOD, as I pointed out, the Secretary of Defense is the original classification authority for determining whether something is classified or not, and as I’ve understood from media reports, the Secretary of Defense has said the information was not classified,” Ratcliffe told lawmakers. Translation, “It’s Pete’s fault.
When asked whether such information should be classified, Gabbard told the committee, “I defer to the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Council on that question.” Interesting parsing.
Not surprisingly, Hegseth’s texts, which reportedly included “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” have drawn the most attention.
Multiple current and former defense officials have said that any discussion of the timing, targets or weapons systems to be used in an attack is always classified — because of the potential risk to US service members lives if those plans are revealed prematurely. I’m sensing a clear element in disconnect in the various perspectives on this story.
Ratcliffe and Gabbard both said. “I can again confirm that with respect to the communications that were related as to me, there was no classified information,” Ratcliffe added. In other words, to quote Shaggy, “It wasn’t me!” “A “Signal” No One Saw Coming!”
I’m done; holla back!
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