By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The leaders of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed on Thursday that they have asked the Defense Department for an inquiry into Trump administration officials’ discussion of sensitive attack plans on the Signal messaging app, including recommendations to address any issues.
In a letter to Steven Stebbins, the acting Inspector General at the department, Republican Senator Roger Wicker, the panel’s chairman, and Senator Jack Reed, its ranking Democrat, asked for an inquiry and assessment of the facts surrounding the Signal chat and department policies “and adherence to policies” about sharing sensitive information.
Stebbins’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wicker had said on Wednesday he and Reed planned a letter, after critics said U.S. troops could have died if the information in the chat had fallen into the wrong hands.
Wicker and Reed also asked for an assessment of Defense Department classification and declassification policies, and how the policies of the White House, Pentagon and intelligence and other agencies differ, if at all, as well as “An assessment of whether any individuals transferred classified information, including operational details, from classified systems to unclassified systems, and if so, how.”
After the review is finished, they said in the letter, dated Wednesday, that the Armed Services Committee would work with Stebbins to schedule a briefing.
Although no Republican member of Congress has called for any official to resign, a few members of Trump’s party have joined Democrats in expressing concern about the chat on Signal, an encrypted commercial messaging app, about the planned killing of a Houthi militant in Yemen on March 15.
CABINET SECRETARIES, VP, INTELL CHIEFS ON CHAT
The chat included National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who did not know that Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, was inadvertently included.
A wide range of Democrats have called for the resignations of Hegseth and others who participated in the chat.
As administration officials have discussed, and at times sought to downplay, the incident, they have focused on the question of whether any of the information was classified, and which agency might have classified it.
They also have insisted it did not include “war plans,” although the messages listed the time of the planned attack and equipment – including aircraft – that would be involved.
“I am appalled by the egregious security breach from top administration officials,” Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said on X.com.
“Their disregard for stringent safeguards and secure channels could have compromised a high-stakes operation and put our servicemembers at risk. I hope this serves as a wake-up call that operational security must be a top priority for everyone—especially our leaders,” she said.
The Defense Department’s inspector general, a nonpartisan official charged with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, was one of several officials Trump has fired since he began his second term in January. Trump has not named a permanent replacement.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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