A bipartisan pair of senior senators is demanding that the Department of Defense probe how Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg wound up on a private Signal chat to discuss plans to strike the Houthis.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and ranking member Jack Reed (D-RI) called on the Pentagon’s watchdog Thursday to start a review of the Signalgate scandal.
“If true, this reporting raises questions as to the use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know,” the duo wrote in a letter to the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General.
The bipartisan duo, whose committee is tasked with conducting oversight of the Department of Defense, specifically sought clarification on whether classified information was discussed in the leaked Signal chat.
Goldberg had reported Monday that national security adviser Mike Waltz added him to a private Signal chat earlier this month featuring 18 top administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, to organize a mid-March strike against the Houthis.
On Wednesday, the Atlantic editor revealed the details of a March 15 message from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laying out a specific timeline for conducting strikes against Houthi outposts in Yemen. Goldberg said the message was sent about two hours before the strikes.
Hegseth has denied sending “war plans,” but there have been questions about whether the seemingly sensitive material about military strikes was actually classified.
This week, top spy bosses, including director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, claimed that Hegseth would’ve been the one to determine whether that message was classified because it came from DOD.
“It was sensitive info, not classified,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters Thursday. “What we should be talking about is it was a very successful mission.
“If you want to talk about classified information, talk about what was at Hillary Clinton’s home that she was trying to BleachBit.”
So far, President Trump has stood by both Waltz and Hegseth amid a firestorm over the leaked messages.
Waltz said he has taken “full responsibility” for the fiasco but also insinuated on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” that he was in a situation where “somebody else’s number” was in contact for a different person.
Trump seemed satisfied with that explanation, telling reporters Wednesday, “I don’t know that Signal works; I think Signal could be defective.”
Wicker and Reed are demanding that the Pentagon’s watchdog investigate the full facts and circumstances surrounding the leak, DOD policies on sharing classified information, if the Pentagon’s policies on classified material were adhered to and whether different national security agencies have unique policies on classified material.
They’re also demanding a briefing on the investigation once it concludes.
“I credit Chairman Wicker for putting the well-being of US forces first and calling for an investigation,” Reed told The Post in a statement. “If someone in uniform committed the same gross misconduct as Secretary Hegseth, they’d be court-martialed immediately.
“The President’s response along with his entire Administration’s just isn’t credible. This was a reckless move, but that’s what happens with a cabinet of unseasoned TV personalities.”
Both Reed and Wicker have suggested that the material shared on the Signal chat should’ve been carefully guarded.
“The information as published recently appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified,” Wicker told reporters Wednesday.
“The fact is the plans for the strike — the planning, the timing, the locations — were not revealed to the enemy, and it was a very successful operation. If early on in this administration there were mistakes, I would hope that they can be rectified.”
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