WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of both the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC)—joined fellow SASC and SFRC member Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and 14 other Senate colleagues in calling on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), SASC and SFRC to hold hearings to investigate why members of President Trump’s national security team were recklessly discussing classified military operations on unsecured devices. In the letter, the Senators also criticized the incompetence and carelessness of how these Trump officials mishandled the situation and inadvertently added a journalist to the group chat. The letter comes after new reporting detailed the classified military plans that were discussed in the commercial, unclassified messaging app.
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“We write to you with grave concern regarding the recent revelations reported in The Atlantic about the Trump Administration’s reckless handling of classified information about U.S. military operations,” wrote the Senators. “This gross mishandling of highly classified information has weakened our national security and could have put at risk American lives, particularly the men and women involved in the military strikes in Yemen.”
“For this reason, we are calling on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to hold joint or separate hearings to investigate this matter fully and get to the bottom of why members of the National Security Council were using unclassified, internet-connected smartphones and channels to discuss highly sensitive military information, when there are known ways to tamper with unclassified devices and when it is possible that dozens of foreign intelligence agencies are targeting the unclassified smartphones used by these senior U.S. government officials,” they continued. “Our national security demands that we act with urgency to uncover the full details of this severe security breach and implement measures to prevent such recklessness in the future.”
In addition to Duckworth and Rosen, the letter was co-signed by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ). All of the Senators who signed are members of SASC, SSCI or SFRC.
The full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth’s website.
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