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Top intelligence officials, including DNI Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, faced intense questioning by the House Intelligence Committee after a Signal group chat leaked US military plans to strike Houthi targets. Gabbard and Ratcliffe denied sharing classified info.
Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, left, and John Ratcliffe, testifies as the House Intelligence Committee holds a hearing.(Photo: AP)
UPDATED: Mar 26, 2025 22:57 IST
Top intelligence officials, including Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Director of CIA John Ratcliffe, were grilled by the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday after new details emerged about a group chat where US military plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen were discussed.
The group chat was hosted on the popular messaging platform Signal. The officials mistakenly invited Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, to join the group.
The messages in the group disclosed exact timings for when US warplanes would be taking off from aircraft carriers to strike Houthi targets in Yemen. This type of information is typically classified as top secret in order not to give the enemy time to respond or prepare to hide prior to takeoff.
Intelligence officials deny sharing classified info
At the hearing, Gabbard denied that classified information was exchanged in the chat. However, she was questioned by Representative Jim Himes, the senior Democrat on the committee, regarding previous testimony she had given to a Senate panel.
After that she admitted, "My answer yesterday was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof, on the details that were posted there."
Ratcliffe also insisted that no classified information was shared. He said, "I used an appropriate channel to communicate sensitive information. It was permissible to do so. I didn’t transfer any classified information."
Despite these claims, the committee was not convinced. Texas Representative Joaquin Castro bluntly told the officials, "You all know that’s a lie. It’s a lie to the country."
Inclusion of editor leads to major leak
The controversy began when the editor of The Atlantic was added to the Signal chat. Initially, Goldberg thought the messages were a hoax, but once the military strikes referred to in the chat occurred, he figured they were real.
Goldberg exited the group after realising the seriousness of the situation. Later, The Atlantic published the leaked messages without the name of a CIA official who had participated in the conversation at the request of the CIA.
Published By:
Satyam Singh
Published On:
Mar 26, 2025
