A group of politicians and intelligence officials associated with the Donald Trump administration are, bizarrely, attempting to play down the hugely embarrassing leak of a group chat which mistakenly added a journalist. In a fiery hearing, CIA director John Ratcliffe exploded at questions about the severity of the leak.
However, the Atlantic, whose editor in chief was mistakenly added to the chat, have now revealed screenshots of the conversation in question. They paint a picture of high-level discussion about possible acts of war, and display a cavalier and dangerous attitude towards protected information. And, unfortunately for Trump and the leaking cabal, both Democrats and Republicans are calling for an investigation into the hapless leak.
Donald Trump: another catastrophe
The people in the chat were:
- Pete Hesgeth – former Fox News host and now secretary of defense
- JD Vance – Trumps’ vice-president
- Stephen Miller – homeland security advisor and white nationalist
- Mike Waltz – national security advisor
- John Ratcliffe – CIA director
- Tulsi Gabbard – director of national intelligence
- Steve Witkoff – special envoy to the Middle East and Ukraine
A number of other officials were also in the group. Whilst a notch up from WhatsApp in terms of security, Signal is certainly no substitute for highly classified information. The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to the chat. Once Goldberg realised he was privy to classified information, he left the chat. The Atlantic have since published selected screenshots of the messages.
These screenshots show that Mike Waltz mistakenly added Goldberg, who then saw messages unfolding about Houthis in Yemen, and the Israel genocide in Gaza. Of course, the Atlantic hasn’t revealed all of the messages because of possible security risks for US operations.
‘Horrifying incompetence’
The leak has been widely condemned, with Nancy Pelosi saying the leak was the most “horrifying incompetence” she had seen in 30 years.
Minority leader Chuck Schumer said the leak was:
one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time.
Seasoned representative Jim Himes said:
If true, these actions are a brazen violation of laws and regulations that exist to protect national security, including the safety of Americans serving in harm’s way.
These individuals know the calamitous risks of transmitting classified information across unclassified systems, and they also know that if a lower-ranking official under their command did what is described here, they would likely lose their clearance and be subject to criminal investigation.
Hakeem Jeffries called for a:
substantive investigation into this unacceptable and irresponsible national security breach.
And, even Republicans expressed their disdain for the ineptness that led to the leak. Republican Mike Lawler said:
Classified information should not be transmitted on unsecured channels – and certainly not to those without security clearances. Period.
Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said:
This is what happens when you don’t really have your act together.
And, The Hill has reported that it has spoken to several Republican representatives who believe an investigation is warranted. One anonymous Republican official told them:
It’s not going away anytime soon. There’s a lot of questions they need to answer, and a lot of questions we need to ask.
The anonymous official also mentioned that military and intelligence services may well have to conduct their own investigations due to the severity of the leaks.
Incompetence abounds in the Trump regime
Remarkably, many of the White House officials involved in the leaked chat and Trump himself have attempted, without much success, to downplay the severity of the leak.
When questioned at a senate intelligence hearing, CIA boss Jim Ratcliffe said:
It is permissible to use to communicate and coordinate for work purposes, provided … that any decisions that are made are also recorded through formal channels.
My communications, to be clear, in a Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.
But, as the Guardian reported:
However, National Public Radio reported on Tuesday that the defense department warned last week not to use Signal because of security issues, even for unclassified information.
And, on top of that, an anonymous defence official who had seen the official documents being discussed in the group chat said:
It was classified when it was shared below the principal level.
The hearing wasn’t swayed by Ratcliffe’s defence, particularly Mark Warner, vice-chair of the committee, who took a dim view of Ratcliffe’s defence and said:
I think this is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information.
Michael Bennett wasn’t impressed either, saying:
This swampiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel who work for him is entirely unacceptable. It’s an embarrassment. You need to do better.
Not business as usual
Both Trump’s previous and current administration’s have operated by acting recklessly and then belligerently denying facts. However, they cannot be allowed to control the narrative on this. It was beyond foolish to discuss classified information on a Signal chat – it was incompetent, reckless, and dangerous.
If it had happened to officials in almost any other country, you can bet Trump’s administration would have been crying about shithole countries. Sometimes the shithole country is calling from inside the house.
Featured image via the Canary
