Kaine & Colleagues Demand Senate Hearings on Trump Administration’s Reckless and Dangerous Mishandling of Classified Military Operations

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, joined 15 Senate colleagues in a letter calling on the Chairs of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold hearings to investigate why members of President Trump’s Cabinet—including the Vice President and Secretary of Defense—were recklessly and illegally discussing classified military operations on unsecured devices. The senators also criticized the incompetence and carelessness of how Trump officials mishandled the situation and inadvertently added a journalist to the group chat.

“We write to you with grave concern regarding the recent revelations reported in The Atlantic about the Trump Administration’s reckless handling of classified information about U.S. military operations,” wrote the senators. “This gross mishandling of highly classified information has weakened our national security and could have put at risk American lives, particularly the men and women involved in the military strikes in Yemen.”

The senators continued, “It is even more outrageous that members of the Trump Administration - from the President to Cabinet officials who were part of the Signal group - have tried to downplay, mislead, and excuse this reckless and likely illegal behavior. During a recent Senate oversight hearing featuring Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Senators and the American people were left with more questions than answers following the officials' testimony and repeated evasions.”

“This raises pressing questions regarding the possible spillage of classified information to an uncleared reporter and onto unclassified devices which can be hacked by foreign intelligence agencies, the irresponsibility of high-ranking Administration officials, and the increased risk this created for U.S. troops who carried out the strikes,” wrote the senators. “For this reason, we are calling on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to hold joint or separate hearings to investigate this matter fully and get to the bottom of why members of the National Security Council were using unclassified, internet-connected smartphones and channels to discuss highly sensitive military information, when there are known ways to tamper with unclassified devices and when it is possible that dozens of foreign intelligence agencies are targeting the unclassified smartphones used by these senior U.S. government officials.”

On Monday, just hours after the release of the first the Atlantic article, Kaine and 13 of his colleagues sent a letter to President Trump demanding answers about the unsecured group chat, the violation of security protocols, and the potential violations of the law.  

In addition to Kaine, the letter to the Chairmen is signed by U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ).

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Chairman Wicker, Chairman Cotton, and Chairman Risch:

We write to you with grave concern regarding the recent revelations reported in The Atlantic about the Trump Administration's reckless handling of classified information about U.S. military operations. According to the reporting and the screenshots provided in the original story and a second piece published the following day, the Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Advisor, and other key national security officials discussed classified information about imminent U.S. military operations using internet-connected smartphones that were not approved for discussing classified information, via a commercial, unclassified messaging app called "Signal." Planning military strikes using consumer-grade, internet-connected smartphones is reckless and illegal because they can be hacked by foreign governments. Additionally, due to their inexcusable carelessness, a reporter was added to this Signal chat and was provided access to incredibly sensitive information about future military operations that included planned air strikes on terrorist targets. This gross mishandling of highly classified information has weakened our national security and could have put at risk American lives, particularly the men and women involved in the military strikes in Yemen.

It is even more outrageous that members of the Trump Administration - from the President to Cabinet officials who were part of the Signal group - have tried to downplay, mislead, and excuse this reckless and likely illegal behavior. During a recent Senate oversight hearing featuring Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Senators and the American people were left with more questions than answers following the officials' testimony and repeated evasions.

Since that initial hearing, and as a direct result of Administration officials’ attempts to downplay the severity of the breach and the importance of the information disclosed, additional reporting from the Atlantic has been published containing further details of what was actually discussed, which included strike planning and explicit operational details like specific timing, types of aircraft used, and sequencing of events related to the pending attack on the Houthi terrorists, any of which could have jeopardized the operation and endangered servicemembers if it had fallen into the hands of our adversaries in advance. This raises pressing questions regarding the possible spillage of classified information to an uncleared reporter and onto unclassified devices which can be hacked by foreign intelligence agencies, the irresponsibility of high-ranking Administration officials, and the increased risk this created for U.S. troops who carried out the strikes.

For this reason, we are calling on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to hold joint or separate hearings to investigate this matter fully and get to the bottom of why members of the National Security Council were using unclassified, internet-connected smartphones and channels to discuss highly sensitive military information, when there are known ways to tamper with unclassified devices and when it is possible that dozens of foreign intelligence agencies are targeting the unclassified smartphones used by these senior U.S. government officials. The American people deserve answers, and we need to know if there are any other such chat conversations using Signal or any other messaging app or other actions being taken by Trump Administration officials that are putting our national security and military personnel at risk. We urge your committees to use the Senate's full oversight powers to compel the following individuals, who were part of the messaging group, to speak to the Senate in both open and closed hearings:

• Vice President JD Vance;
• Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth;
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio;
• National Security Advisory Michael Waltz;
• Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard;
• CIA Director John Ratcliffe;
• White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles;
• Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller; and
• U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.

Our national security demands that we act with urgency to uncover the full details of this severe security breach and implement measures to prevent such recklessness in the future. We look forward to your prompt attention to this matter and stand ready to support the committees in any capacity necessary. We trust that you will give this matter the serious attention it requires.

Sincerely,

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