CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 25, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
CIA Director John Ratcliffe is blaming President Joe Biden's administration for a conversation on an encrypted app that may have included classified intelligence information.
A bombshell report in The Atlantic revealed that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared classified war plans in a Signal chat that included a reporter among its membership.
The story reveals a Signal chat among top officials in President Donald Trump's Cabinet who discussed classified military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
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The Senate Intelligence Committee questioned top officials in Trump's government about the chat conversation and whether it was classified.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) hammered Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard along with Ratcliffe, asking that they confirm they were in the chat. Gabbard refused to answer, but Ratcliffe confirmed it.
"Can I provide some context, Senator, to that?" asked Ratcliffe. "I think it's important because at the outset, you made a couple of comments about Signal messaging using encrypted apps. So that we're clear, one of the first things that happened when I was confirmed as CIA director was Signal was loaded onto my computer at the CIA, as it is for most CIA officers.
"One of the things that I was briefed on very early, Senator, was by the CIA records management folks about the use of Signal as a permissible work use. That is a practice that preceded the current administration to the Biden administration."
Warner questioned whether Ratcliffe was saying that Signal was a "secure channel."
"No, can I — can I answer that?" Ratcliffe asked. "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. So, those were procedures that were implemented.
"My staff implemented those processes, followed those processes, and complied with those processes. So my communications, to be clear, in a Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information."
Warner said that if the messages weren't classified, the officials should release them.
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