Press Releases

Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee Military and Foreign Affairs, Rep. Stephen Lynch, and Rep. Robert Garcia led Committee Democrats in sending a letter to U.S. Vice President JD Vance, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding an immediate briefing on how and why America’s national security secrets ended up in a group chat on an unauthorized messaging app that included a journalist.   

“We write with great alarm regarding The Atlantic report that you, as members of the National Security Council and President’s Cabinet, participated in a series of highly sensitive conversations on the free and open-source Signal messaging application to plan a military operation in Yemen and shared highly sensitive, potentially classified information with a person who was not authorized to receive such information. We demand an immediate briefing to assist Congress in understanding the extent of the damage and intelligence exposure that this reckless and unrestricted transmission of highly sensitive national security information has caused, as well as the parameters and legality of senior officials using Signal to communicate and delete deliberative messages,” wrote the Members.

In the unclassified group chat, the senior officials discussed the merits of a strike on the Houthi rebel group in Yemen, including relevant concerns about U.S. national interests and impacts on American allies.  Hegseth outlined operational information about the current position and posture of actively deployed U.S. military forces that, had it been “read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel.”

Not only did the use of Signal pose a risk to the lives of men and women of the military, jeopardize the operation, and embarrassingly advertise to our adversaries the reckless attitude of our nation’s senior leaders, but the inclusion of Mr. Goldberg raises questions as to whether senior government officials in the chat acted in accordance with the Espionage Act.  

“This extraordinary breach of trust also raises questions as to whether Mr. Waltz and the other senior officials have failed to comply with federal recordkeeping requirements, given the fact that ‘Waltz set some of the messages in the Signal group to disappear after one week, and some after four.’  Accordingly, we request a briefing from each of you regarding the damage or intelligence risks caused by the use of Signal for the operation and the leak of highly sensitive or classified information, the factual timeline of events, the methods and protocol for handling critical national security information, as well as recordkeeping protocol no later than March 28, 2025,” concluded the Members.