The US intelligence chiefs say they didnʼt share classified material in “Signal” chat where journalist accidentally ended up

The US administration intelligence chiefs say they did not share any classified material in the “Signal” chat room where a journalist from The Atlantic was accidentally invited.

NBC News writes about this.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe downplayed the incident during hearings before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In his testimony, Ratcliffe admitted to chatting but said it was “legal”. He noted that the Signal app was downloaded to his work computer at the CIA when he started working there, and claimed it was authorized as a means of communication for work purposes.

He did not answer the question of whether it was appropriate to share detailed military plans via Signal.

When asked by Democrats whether the time and location of planned military strikes were discussed in the chat, Gabbard replied: "I can attest that I was not involved in that. I can attest to the fact that there was never any classified or intelligence information in that chat group."

Ratcliffe and Gabbard also said they would cooperate with the audit, which is expected to determine whether they used Signal or another messaging platform to discuss classified information.

Gabbard declined to answer questions about whether she was using her personal phone or a government-issued phone, citing that the Signal issue was "under review".

What happened?

Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine Jeffrey Goldberg said he was accidentally added to a chat on the Signal messenger, where the American operation against the Houthis was being discussed.

He was added to the chat by an account under the name Mike Waltz, the name of the US Presidentʼs national security adviser. According to Goldberg, the chat contained information about targets, the weapons the US would use, and the sequence of attacks. Shortly after, direct attacks on Yemen took place.

There were only 18 people in this chat, including accounts writing on behalf of the Vice President JD Vance, the Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Trump advisor Steve Witkoff, and others.

Goldberg then sent emails to a number of officials who were present in the chat, asking if he was genuine and if they knew they had added a journalist to it. Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council, responded, confirming the authenticity of the Signal groupʼs message.

The US President Donald Trump, commenting on the situation, supported Waltz. He also stated that although the journalist from The Atlantic accidentally got into a private chat about military plans, his presence "in no way affected" the strikes on the Houthis in Yemen.

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