Key takeaways from worldwide threats hearing dominated by Signal breach

National security leaders’ use of Signal to discuss plans for airstrikes in Yemen made for a contentious hearing Tuesday, as Senate Intelligence Democrats excoriated Trump administration officials for their carelessness, and chat participants denied discussing classified information.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe both denied sharing any classified material through the chat, to which Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added.

It was an unusual twist for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual worldwide threats hearing, which is designed to review the wide range of threats facing the United States.

While Republicans stuck to traditional topics, Democrats grilled the leaders over the group chat and questioned how any war plans wouldn’t be considered classified material.

At one point Ratcliffe said "no" he did not agree with Sen. Jon Ossoff's (D-Ga.) characterization of the matter as a "huge mistake," prompting outrage from Democrats.

“The unwillingness of the individuals on this panel who were on the chat to even apologize or acknowledging what a colossal screw-up this is speaks volumes,” said Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the panel.

Warner, in a post on X as the hearing began, called on national security adviser Mike Waltz, who added Goldberg to the group chat, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared war plans with the group, to resign over the apparent security breach.

The Trump administration has been vocal about its plans to prosecute those who leak classified information, but President Trump has stood by Waltz and Hegseth so far.

Here are four takeaways from the hearing.

Officials contend chat did not include classified information

During the several days Goldberg observed the chat, he saw top Trump administration officials discuss sensitive plans about targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, including “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing” as well as the name of a CIA officer.

Despite the nature of the conversations, both Gabbard and Ratcliffe repeatedly asserted that the Signal group chat did not contain classified information.

“Senator, I’ll reiterate that there was no classified material that was shared,” Gabbard said during a heated exchange with Warner.

Ratcliffe said the same in another line of questioning.

“I haven't participated in any Signal group messaging that relates to any classified information at all,” he said.

Still, later in the hearing, Ratcliffe said discussions ahead of a decision to carry out military action would need to be done through systems for discussing classified information.

“Pre-decisional strike deliberation should be conducted through classified channels,” the CIA director said.

Multiple Democrats on the panel expressed disbelief that such discussions wouldn’t include classified information and called for the two to share the contents of the messages.

“So if there was no classified material, share it with the committee. You can't have it both ways,” Warner said, accusing Gabbard of “bobbing and weaving and trying to filibuster your answer.”

Warner also noted that Gabbard recently tweeted about the administration's plans to prosecute those who leak national security information.

Gabbard responded that “there's a difference between inadvertent release versus careless and sloppy, malicious leaks of classified information.”

The Espionage Act, however, can be used to prosecute both intentional and unintentional sharing or retention of national defense information — a category that does not require such information to be classified.

Democrats hammer Trump officials

Warner set the tone for Democrats from the start of the hearing, criticizing the Trump officials for everything from the carelessness of including a journalist to flouting security protocols by using Signal to discuss a high-stakes operation, to the risks posed to servicemembers had the details been intercepted by a foreign government.

“There’s plenty of declassified information that shows that our adversaries, China and Russia, are trying to break into encrypted systems,” Warner said, accusing the Trump administration of “careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information, that…is not a one-off or a first-time error.”

“If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired,” he added.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) called it disrespectful to rank-and-file intelligence officers.

“This sloppiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel who work for them is entirely unacceptable. It's an embarrassment. Do better. You need to do better,” he said.

Ossoff also criticized Gabbard and Ratcliffe while expressing dissatisfaction with some of their answers, implying there will be consequences if they were being dishonest.

“This is utterly unprofessional. There's been no apology, there has been no recognition of the gravity of this error. And by the way, we will get the full transcript of this chain and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content,” he said.

Gabbard, Ratcliffe dodge questions

The leaders rebuffed several questions posed to them by lawmakers.

At the start of the hearing, Gabbard declined to say whether she was the “TG” referenced in screenshots of the group chat posted in The Atlantic story, though Ratcliff acknowledged he participated.

Later in the hearing, Gabbard also said she was overseas during the time the group chat discussions were underway, but declined to say whether she participated using her personal phone.

“I won't speak to this because it's under review by the National Security Council. Once that review is complete, I'm sure we'll share the results with the committee,” she said.

“Well, It's a very simple question, were you on a private phone or an officially issued phone? What could be under review?” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said, nodding to efforts of foreign adversaries to obtain information from officials’ phones, including targeting personal cell phones.

Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe also at various turns sidestepped questions about classification procedures, noting the role of the Department of Defense in classifying any war plans.

“The Secretary of Defense is the original classification authority for DOD and deciding what would be classified information,” Ratcliffe said.

At another point when Gabbard said she would “defer” to the Defense Department, she was chastised by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).

“You're the head of the intelligence community. You're supposed to know about classifications,” he said.

Ratcliffe also defended his use of the app, even though the CIA has warned staff about the vulnerabilities of encrypted messaging platforms like Signal.

“When I was confirmed as CIA director, Signal was loaded onto my computer at the CIA as it is for most CIA officers. One of the things that I was briefed on very early, senator, was by the CIA records management folks about the use of Signal as a permissible work use,” Ratcliffe said.

While intelligence officials use Signal to discuss some matters, they are instructed to use secure “high side" systems when discussing classified information.

A split screen

While nearly every Democrat asked questions about the Signal chat, Republicans largely sidestepped the issue and none asked questions about it on the record.

The first question from Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was about the risks posed by migrants, asking leaders to provide “details of the horrific offenses they've committed against the American people.”

Others asked questions about other major powers like Iran, China and Russia while several focused on the fentanyl trade as well as foreign surveillance programs.

Just two Republican lawmakers said they had additional questions about the Signal chat episode but wished to discuss it in the classified session held after the open hearing.

“With regard to the issue surrounding Signal, I'm going to address it, but I'm going to address it in the closed session so that we can get more in-depth into that issue,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said.

Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) had the strongest language, referencing “unanswered questions.”

“I'll be asking some follow-up questions, clarifications about this Signal episode in a closed setting, and try and work with all of you to bring clarity to that situation. It appears to me there's some unanswered questions. It'll take some time, I think, to get there in a more dispassionate setting,” he said.

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