The nation’s top two spy chiefs who participated in a Signal chat discussing U.S. strikes in Yemen rejected assertions that detailed military information on planned and completed strikes was classified intelligence under questioning from Democratic senators on Tuesday.
But even as the two officials, C.I.A. Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, acknowledged the sensitivity of information about strike targets, they sought to evade specifics on the content of the chat, offered carefully parsed answers on responsibility for the leaks and declined to release the details of the exchanges.
Ms. Gabbard initially declined to confirm that she was even added to the chat. And Mr. Ratcliffe, who said it was up to the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to determine what information could be shared in an unclassified chat, flatly rejected the conclusion of one Democratic senator who asked him to agree that the entire episode had been a serious and damaging mistake.
It took the intelligence chiefs several rounds of questions from lawmakers about the Signal chat, detailed Monday in The Atlantic, to describe their view of events. But the picture that emerged from two hours of testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee — a previously scheduled hearing that was supposed to be about the array of threats against America — was the spy chiefs’ contention that no sensitive information from their areas of responsibility was shared.
Instead, Mr. Hegseth is under the microscope for his decision to put sensitive defense information, most likely classified, into the chat.
Signal, a widely available messaging platform, uses a powerful form of encryption. But it does not have the security protections of classified government computers.
Both Mr. Ratcliffe and Ms. Gabbard were in the group chat set up by Michael Waltz, the national security adviser. Mr. Waltz, or a staff member, inadvertently also included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, in the chat.
Ms. Gabbard and Mr. Ratcliffe declined to answer many questions about the chat, including whether personal or government phones were used. But Ms. Gabbard did acknowledge that at least part of the chat took place while she was on a long overseas trip to India and other countries. Mr. Ratcliffe defended his use of the app as “lawful,” and said that the C.I.A. had placed it on his official government computer.
Democratic lawmakers pressed the two intelligence chiefs on a variety of issues. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona asked Mr. Ratcliffe if targeting information should have been discussed, and Mr. Ratcliffe said it should be conducted “though classified channels.”
But Mr. Ratcliffe also noted that it was up to Mr. Hegseth, who held the classification authority, to determine what was appropriate to share.
The relentless questioning by Democrats clearly annoyed Mr. Ratcliffe and Ms. Gabbard. When Mr. Ratcliffe said his testimony was being mischaracterized, Senator Michael Bennet, Democrat of Colorado, shot back: “This sloppiness, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies is entirely unacceptable. You need to do better.”
Senator Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia, pushed Mr. Ratcliffe to agree that the episode was “a huge mistake, correct?”
Mr. Ratcliff pushed back with a single word — “no” — and he and the senator repeatedly talked over one another before Mr. Ossoff admonished him, calling the incident an embarrassment. “There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error,” he said. “And by the way, we will get the full transcript of this chain and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content.”
enator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, repeatedly warned the spy chiefs about the consequences of discussing sensitive information on platforms not designed for classified discussions, calling it “sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior.”
“It not only violated all procedures, but if this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost,” Mr. Warner said.
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