Washington — Leaders of U.S. intelligence agencies are testifying Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee about global security threats, one day after it was revealed that top Trump officials inadvertently included a journalist in a group chat about the United States’ highly sensitive plans to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the committee, addressed the controversy at the top of the hearing, calling it “mind-boggling” that none of the intelligence officials in the chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal thought to check who else was included.
“Are these government devices? Were they personal devices? Have the devices been collected to make sure there’s no malware?” Warner said in his opening remarks. “There’s plenty of declassified information that shows that our adversaries, China and Russia, are trying to break into encryption systems like Signal.”
On Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, revealed that he was added to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal about the war plans. Accounts appearing to be Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe both participated in the message thread, according to Goldberg.
Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe are testifying to the committee along with FBI Director Kash Patel, National Security Agency Director Gen. Timothy Haugh and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse.
In the group chat, which was started by President Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz, Ratcliffe allegedly shared information “that might be interpreted as related to actual and current intelligence operations,” Goldberg wrote.
The National Security Council said Monday in a statement to CBS News that the message thread “appears to be authentic.”
Gabbard and Ratcliffe both denied that classified information was shared in the group chat in a feisty exchange with Warner. Confronted by Warner, Gabbard initially declined to say whether she was part of the chat.
“Because it’s all classified?” Warner said.
“Because this is currently under review,” Gabbard responded.
“If it’s not classified, share the texts now,” Warner said.
Ratcliffe confirmed to Warner that he was a participant in the message thread, but pushed back on whether the decision to use Signal to communicate was a security lapse. Ratcliffe said Signal was on his CIA computer when he was confirmed as director earlier this year. “As it is for most CIA officers,” he said, adding that the agency considers the commercial app “permissible” for work use.
“As it is for most CIA officers,” he said, adding that the agency considers the commercial app “permissible” for work use and that it was used during the Biden administration as well.
“It is permissible to use to communicate and coordinate for work purposes, provided, senator, that any decisions that are made are also recorded through formal channels,” Ratcliffe said. “My communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”
During questioning from Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, both Ratcliffe and Gabbard denied participating in any Signal group chats in which classified information was shared.
Gabbard told Wyden she had “no objection” to cooperating with an audit to confirm such, while Ratcliffe said he would comply with any follow up that the National Security Council deemed appropriate.
In addition to Democrats’ focus on the group chat, the hearing is also expected to focus on threats posed by China, Russia and Iran.
“Many of the threats we face are truly existential,” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the Republican chairman of the committee, said in his opening remarks.
The intelligence officials are also set to testify Wednesday to the House Intelligence Committee. The hearings coincide with the release of an annual threat assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The 2024 report said the U.S. faced “an increasingly fragile global order” over the next year that would be strained by great power competition, regional conflicts and transnational challenges.
At last year’s Senate hearing on global threats, the Biden administration’s top intelligence officials stressed that U.S. assistance to Ukraine was necessary for its survival against Russia’s invasion and that U.S. support for Ukraine also sent a message of deterrence to China as it eyes invading Taiwan.
Mr. Trump, who campaigned on ending the war in Ukraine, has taken a friendlier tone toward Russia and temporarily paused intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine after an Oval Office spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He recently declined to comment on whether the U.S. would prevent China from taking Taiwan by force while he’s president.
Mr. Trump is also putting pressure on Iran to negotiate a new nuclear deal, warning that there could be potential military action otherwise.