Updated March 26, 2025 at 18:44 PM ET
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other top U.S. intelligence officials testified before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday — in a session dominated by discussion of an extraordinary breach of security.
Gabbard, who as DNI is the head of the U.S. intelligence community, was part of a high-level group chat on Signal, an open-source messaging app, where officials discussed detailed plans for a U.S. bombing campaign in Yemen earlier this month.
The use of civilian software to discuss sensitive military and government matters came to light after Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said the Signal account of national security adviser Michael Waltz had added him to the Principals Committee (PC) group chat.
Goldberg reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent detailed war plans in a message well before the U.S. attack began. Hegseth is not among the officials testifying on Capitol Hill — but on Wednesday, several Democratic lawmakers called for him to resign.
Disputes over what constitutes classified information
As the hearing began, Gabbard addressed the issue dominating headlines this week.
"It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added to a Signal chat with high-level national security principals having a policy discussion about imminent strikes against the Houthis and the effects of the strike," Gabbard said, referring to the rebels in Yemen.
She added that Waltz has taken responsibility and that a review is underway.
"The conversation was candid and sensitive," but no classified information was shared, Gabbard said. She added, "There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared."
Democrats on the committee disagreed.
"I've seen things much less sensitive be presented to us with high classification," said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas. "And to say that it isn't is a lie to the country."
Another Democrat, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, cited an executive order and a Defense Department manual that deem information "classified" if its unauthorized disclosure could harm national security, specifying details such as military plans and weapons systems.
Producing a large placard bearing an enlarged screenshot of the "Houthi PC small group" Signal chat, Krishnamoorthi noted that Hegseth sent two messages announcing the launch of F-18 fighters and MQ-9 drones as the attack began. Krishnamoorthi then asked the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, whether those are weapons systems.
"They are," Kruse said. But, he added, he would draw a distinction, because such weapons are "used all across the globe in a lot of contexts."
"This is classified information," Krishnamoorthi replied. "It's a weapons system as well as sequence of strikes, as well as details about the operations."
Trump says it's 'a witch hunt'
President Trump dismissed the controversy during an appearance in the Oval Office on Wednesday, telling reporters, "It's all a witch hunt."
The president sought to brush back criticism of the defense secretary, saying Hegseth "had nothing to do with this."
He also attempted to raise questions about Signal itself. "You want to ask about whether or not Signal works," Trump said. "I don't know that Signal works — I think Signal could be defective, to be honest with you."
Earlier Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Signal was "an approved encrypted app."
"As the president said yesterday, as the CIA director has testified under oath, this is an approved app," Leavitt said. "It's an encrypted app. The Department of Defense, the Department of State, the CIA has it loaded onto government phones because it is the most secure and efficient way to communicate."
A second day of testimony for intelligence bosses
Trump's comments followed the second appearance on Capitol Hill in as many days for Gabbard and Ratcliffe, who were grilled on Tuesday by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The leaders told senators that they had not shared any classified information in an improper or unlawful way — prompting a challenge from the ranking Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.
"If there was no classified material, share it with the committee," Warner said. "You can't have it both ways."
With the officials insisting they did nothing wrong and had not shared classified information, The Atlantic has now published Signal messages that were inadvertently shared with Goldberg, in a story titled "Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump's Advisers Shared on Signal."
The story states, "The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions."
As the hearing entered its final hour, Hegseth defended himself on X, saying The Atlantic's release of the Signal messages lacked specific names, targets and locations — and held "no classified information."
Copyright 2025 NPR
