Ratcliffe, the CIA director, defends group chat that inadvertently included a journalist

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CIA Director John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman, confirmed on Tuesday that he was in a group chat about the military’s plan to bomb Yemen that mistakenly included a journalist, but denied that the situation was a “huge mistake.”

Ratcliffe told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the use of the encrypted messaging platform Signal, where the chat took place, is permissible for work.

The hearing, which had been previously scheduled, came one day after The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he was accidentally added to a Signal group chat with top U.S. officials that included internal deliberations about bombing Houthi targets — an Iran-backed rebel group.

Goldberg wrote that he was unsure that the texts — from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and others — were real until bombs fell on Yemen on March 15.

As a result, in Washington and around the country, critics and national security experts asked if the texts showed that the administration officials had violated record-keeping laws and put U.S. military members in danger by messaging possible classified information in the Signal group chat.

“If this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost,” said committee vice chair Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, at the hearing.

Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging app that is known for its security. However, the application is not a government application and runs the risk of being hacked.

Ratcliffe told the hearing that he did not share any classified information in the group chat and that he has not participated in a group chat that included classified material. "To be clear, I haven’t participated in any Signal group messaging that relates to any classified information," Ratcliffe said.

In defending the category of the material that was shared, Ratcliffe seemed to be focusing on the actions of Hegseth, the Pentagon chief. “The Secretary of Defense is the original classification authority," Ratcliffe said, "and my understanding is that um his comments are that any information that he shared was not classified.”

While Goldberg wrote that the messages in the group chat included information on targets, weapons and attack sequencing, Ratcliffe repeated that in his view, his texts in the chat followed proper procedure.

“My communications, to be clear, in a Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,” Ratcliffe said.

In response to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, asking if he would submit to an audit to examine if he was in any group chats that shared confidential information, Ratcliffe said that he would “comply with any followup that the National Security Council would deem appropriate.”

Ratcliffe claimed that soon after he became the CIA Director, Signal was downloaded on his computer at the agency and he was briefed on how to use Signal for work. He said the CIA’s use of the app preceded the Trump administration and was used during the Biden administration.

Signal can be used to coordinate and communicate, Ratcliffe said, as long as any decisions made on the messaging platform are recorded through formal channels. The CIA Director said his team followed this requirement.

Messages sent in the group chat, according to The Atlantic, were scheduled to disappear after one or four weeks.

When asked by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, “This was a huge mistake, correct?” Ratcliffe replied “No.”

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