Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) leads a Senate Democrats press briefing on the leaked Signal war plans chat.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, everyone.
00:01Thank you for making it here today on such short notice.
00:05I'm going to let my colleague speak first, but I just wanted to kick things off by making
00:08clear that we Democrats will not let the Trump administration pull the wool over our eyes
00:13and declare a case closed on such a massive national security breach without giving us
00:17any real answers or taking any real accountability.
00:21Pete Hecht's incompetence could have killed American service members.
00:24The fact that this administration doesn't seem to take that seriously or care in the
00:28slightest is an insult to all who've served, and I certainly take it as such.
00:33I'll go into more of that in a few minutes.
00:34For now, I want to pass things off to my friend, Senator Blumenthal.
00:43Thank you to Senator Duckworth for bringing us together and for her vigilance and vigor
00:48on this extraordinarily important national security issue, and to Mark Kelly and Senator
00:56Hirono as well.
00:58The ramifications of this profound national security breakdown are mushrooming, not diminishing.
01:08This scandal, far from going away, is actually reverberating among our allies through the
01:16national security apparatus and through our military.
01:22Today in the confirmation proceedings, the hearing concerning General Kane, I raised
01:28this issue very specifically because our military men and women are understandably outraged by
01:38this breach putting in danger those pilots who were about to launch on missions in harm's
01:46way going into the very sophisticated and advanced air defense that the Houthis have
01:54because they've been so aided by Iran.
01:57This national security branch needs and deserves investigation.
02:02I've called for an FBI investigation.
02:05Criminal laws were broken here, in my view.
02:09The FBI National Security Division should be investigating it as a criminal violation
02:16of the Espionage Act.
02:17There are also record requirements that seemingly have been violated, and there needs to be
02:26a full, penetrating, prompt investigation.
02:31I am supportive of Senator Reid and Senator Wicker calling for the Inspector General of
02:40the Department of Defense to investigate, but there is no Inspector General right now.
02:47The Inspector General was fired by Donald Trump.
02:51Even in the best of times, Inspector General reports sometimes take many months, even years,
02:58to complete.
02:59This investigation must be done by the FBI fully, promptly, carefully, comprehensively
03:08because the carelessness that's exemplified here has ramifications all its own.
03:14And I will just say I'm hearing reports that our allies are absolutely aghast and appalled
03:22and now increasingly reluctant to deal with our national security teams, and the Israelis
03:31in particular are absolutely outraged and reassessing what their posture is going to
03:40be vis-a-vis our intelligence community.
03:44The ramifications are sweeping and continuing, and the idea that it's case closed, no way.
03:55This kind of careless, reckless, lawless treatment of clear national security interests cannot
04:03be accepted.
04:04There must be FBI as well as Department of Defense investigations.
04:10So again, my thanks to Senator Duckworth, and I'll turn it over to Senator Kelly.
04:15SEN.
04:16KELLY.
04:18Good afternoon, everybody.
04:22Some of the most sensitive information that any military service has has to do with the
04:32timing and the platforms and the weapons systems that are going to be used today, tomorrow,
04:42the next day.
04:45Senator Duckworth and I both flew combat missions over Iraq.
04:49For me, it was in the first Gulf War in 1991.
04:53For Senator Duckworth, it was the second war in Iraq, 2003 and beyond that.
05:02If while I was planning the strike off the USS Midway in the early days of Desert Storm,
05:11if somebody would have told me that the Secretary of Defense at the time, Dick Cheney, was about
05:18to release the details of our combat mission over an unsecured platform, obviously at
05:26the time, signal did not exist, I would have just been shocked, and all of us would have
05:32realized very quickly that this has put us at much more additional risk.
05:38Countries like Yemen have early warning systems to see when airplanes and missile systems
05:45are coming at them offensively.
05:50In this case, if this information would have been shared beyond that reporter and would
05:57have made its way to unfriendly countries and ultimately shared with Yemen and the Houthis,
06:05they don't need that early warning system anymore.
06:07They basically know which direction the airplanes are coming from because they know where the
06:11aircraft carrier is.
06:12They know the timing.
06:14You can see on this chart here.
06:16And it's not around, right?
06:18You notice at the bottom, I think it says 1536 or something like that, 1536 F-18 second
06:25strike starts.
06:27That's not around 330.
06:31That's incredibly specific.
06:33That information came from a classified document or classified information that was shared
06:40with the Secretary of Defense over the phone.
06:45And to put this in a signal chain to other members of the senior national security team
06:54at the White House is beyond irresponsible.
06:58It is reckless.
07:00And I can't even figure out why he did it.
07:05It's not important information to those folks on the signal chain.
07:10I think he was sort of showing off that he had this information.
07:13He's obviously new in this job.
07:16And it was my view before he was confirmed that he was unprepared to take on this role,
07:23the least qualified Secretary of Defense in perhaps our country's history.
07:31One thing we learned in the military is when you make a mistake, you've got to own up to
07:35it.
07:36And I think most folks in that position would have owned up to it at this point.
07:41And all we've heard from Secretary of Defense Hegseth is excuses.
07:48So I stand here with my colleagues calling on the let's get this investigation underway.
07:57Chairman Wicker and Ranking Member Reid have both called for an IG investigation.
08:04And we need to get to the bottom of this.
08:06And it's incredibly concerning to me that this is probably not a one-off event, that
08:13this signal, unsecured signal platform was likely used on multiple other occasions to
08:21share classified information.
08:23And that not only puts our service members at risk, it puts all of us at risk.
08:31And Senator Hirono.
08:34So there's no question this was a security breach of the first order.
08:41Much as this Administration would like this whole thing to go away, sweeping everything
08:45under the rug, it would be completely irresponsible for any of us to support that kind of total
08:53dereliction of duty.
08:55All four of us who have spoken, I'm speaking now, we all sit on the Senate Armed Services
09:01Committee.
09:02And of course, Senators Duckworth and Kelly have flown combat missions, so they know the
09:07danger posed by this kind of information on an unsecure platform.
09:13So you've heard us saying how appalled we were, but what we haven't heard is for this
09:17Administration to say this should never have happened.
09:21The first instinct by our Secretary of Defense apparently was to blame the reporter who was
09:28inadvertently let in on this chat.
09:31That is the responsibility as the Secretary of Defense saw it.
09:38I have no words for the kind of attitude that he has taken.
09:46And to date, I don't think that this Administration or the Secretary of Defense or anybody involved
09:52has said this should never have happened, it will never happen again, because what is
09:55there to think about?
09:57One should never have these kinds of discussions on an unsecured channel and an unsecured platform.
10:06So as mentioned, today we had a confirmation hearing of President Trump's pick to be the
10:13chair of the Joint Chiefs.
10:15And this is a person who understands the importance of the kind of conversations that should take
10:20place on a secret channel.
10:23And he obviously said that he has never had this kind of conversation on an unsecure channel
10:30and how important it is to protect what he called the element of surprise, because these
10:37are very – I think the word risky applies.
10:42These are risky missions, and the element of surprise is important.
10:47How surprising is it, I ask them, if these kinds of discussions are occurring on an unsecure
10:53channel, on an unsecure platform?
10:56So the people who were put at risk, they've written, I believe, to op-eds how they felt
11:05that they were put into harm's way by this kind of discussion taking place in this way.
11:12And so far, we have not heard this Administration own up to it and to say it will never happen again.
11:19Our service members deserve better, and of course, our country, our national security
11:23issues are at stake.
11:25And this kind of carelessness, a lack of taking any responsibility, is what is par for the
11:32course with this Administration, not only in this instance, but in just about everything
11:39else that the Administration is doing, because this is an Administration that governs by
11:44fear, chaos, and total unaccountability.
11:48So we are calling on accountability here, although I must say that considering that
11:56we are asking for an investigation, et cetera, by other Trump nominees who are just totally
12:02loyal to him and not to the Constitution, one wonders what kind of independent investigation
12:08can really occur.
12:09But as I said, there is nothing to think about.
12:13This should never have happened.
12:14It should never happen again.
12:16And we need an Administration that says it will never happen again.
12:20There's nothing to think about.
12:22Okay?
12:32Thank you, Senator Hirono and my colleagues, Senator Kelly and Senator Blumenthal.
12:38As you know, last week, I used some pretty colorful language to call Pete Ketch's a liar.
12:43On second thought, I'd like to change it a little.
12:46I'd like to call him a disgrace as well, because every classified detail he leaked over that
12:51signal chat, he put our troops in greater and greater danger of being shot down.
12:56So as a former Army helicopter pilot who was nearly killed when the enemy got too good
13:01a shot at my own aircraft, I paid in blood for my right to ask these three simple questions.
13:08First, how dare Pete Hexeth risk these pilots' lives for no apparent reason?
13:13How dare a man who's supposed to lift up our heroes let them down so badly?
13:17And how dare the Trump Administration try to get away with sweeping this security breach
13:21under the rug, declaring case closed with no repercussions for anyone involved?
13:26Would Trump going so far as to call this crisis a, quote, glitch?
13:30Well, I've got news for you, President Trump.
13:33Putting out troops and their families in unnecessary danger wasn't just a glitch.
13:37It was an inexcusable grave mistake.
13:40As was choosing Pete Hexeth to be their Secretary of Defense.
13:44Listen, Cadet Bones Burrs couldn't tell you the meaning of the word sacrifice if he had
13:48a dictionary open to it right in front of him.
13:51But unlike our President, our heroes are willing to risk the unimaginable for our nation.
13:55In return, they deserve leaders who actually respect their sacrifice, leaders who actually
14:00give a damn about keeping them out of the kind of needless, reckless danger that Hexeth
14:05put them in last month.
14:07The Trump Administration might be trying to cover this up and get everyone to hurry
14:10on to the next news cycle, but I refuse to let them do so.
14:14Because we still have absolutely zero indication that they just won't do this all over again.
14:20We still don't know how many other group chats there were, or currently are, where
14:25Trump officials are leaking other state secrets to God knows who, and we still don't know
14:30what the hell the Administration is doing to address any of this.
14:33To me, it's clear.
14:35If Republicans actually care about our troops like they claim to on the campaign trail,
14:39then they must do the bare minimum here.
14:42They must join me in demanding immediate Congressional hearings as well as an independent investigation
14:47looking into every official who was on that chat.
14:50My Republican colleagues must remember that they serve the people of this country, not
14:54Donald Trump's ego.
14:56They must understand that our troops sacrifice for our nation, not a wannabe king.
15:01And if Pete Hexeth doesn't have the dignity or courage to do the right thing and resign
15:04from his post, then Donald Trump must fire him immediately.
15:09Because every moment that Hexeth remains Secretary of Defense, his incompetence emboldens our
15:14adversaries, it weakens our national security, and it makes Americans less safe.
15:20And every second that Trump dodges holding him accountable, the President is giving the
15:24middle finger to all those who wear the uniform, just like he has so many times before.
15:30Our troops deserve better than the Trump administration's fake patriotism and false
15:34promises.
15:35They deserve real, actual answers.
15:37They deserve actual leadership.
15:41With that, I have time for a few questions.
15:42Go ahead.
15:44So, in the immediate aftermath of this coming to light, there was a Washington Post article
15:50about government officials using Signal.
15:54We know it's on the phones.
15:56It was approved not for classified use, like what we're talking about here, but it was
16:00approved and it is on government phones.
16:02Will this investigation encompass sort of government-wide, the government-wide use of
16:08Signal and take a look at clarifying those use cases?
16:12I think that could be a subsequent look, but the first thing we have to look at is
16:17the DOD's use of Signal and what happened this particular evening, and what happened
16:23before, and are there continuing to be Signal chat groups that are being used with our top
16:28national security experts who are basically putting the nation's secrets out there for
16:34anybody to hack.
16:36Yes.
16:37Do you know of any organizations that have welcomed the Secretary General's investigation?
16:42Have they given any indication that they are open to a congressional hearing if there are
16:46findings in that particular investigation?
16:48I think they're running scared from President Trump and they're keeping their heads under
16:52– in the Army, we call that the defilade position.
16:54They need to step out and do what's right for the American people and stop protecting
16:58Trump's ego, and they need to also call for a congressional investigation into this.
17:02Yeah.
17:03You mentioned the time that an IT investigation could take.
17:08The Secretary of Labor very clearly asked for an expedited investigation.
17:12Do you think that the acting IT will actually be able to conduct that investigation?
17:16Do you feel at all supported by the call for such an investigation?
17:19I support the call for the investigation, but I also think simultaneously there should
17:23be a congressional investigation.
17:25That can certainly happen much quicker.
17:27I mean, at the very least, let's get all of those electronic devices.
17:30You know, if this has happened and it was anybody else in the DOD at a lower level,
17:34the first thing that would have happened was that somebody would have come in and grabbed
17:37everybody's electronic devices so that they could do a forensic analysis of all of those
17:40devices.
17:41As far as I know, that has not yet happened.
17:43There's a Records Act where they're supposed to turn over all of the text, the chats that
17:47was in that – that was active that night.
17:51In fact, I think there's – a judge has ordered it for them to preserve it.
17:55I don't think that has been turned over either.
17:57So I think there are immediate things that can happen, and then there can be the IG investigation
18:02with the – acting IG.
18:03That can certainly move forward.
18:05I'm sorry.
18:06Just a follow-up.
18:07Mm-hmm.
18:08Senator Wicker also – hold on a second.
18:10You mentioned having a senior official from the White House come and do a closed brief
18:16to the committee to sort of discuss what happened and the information there.
18:21Do you feel like that's going to actually yield any information and provide any answers,
18:26or do you feel like that's more just a move to placate?
18:30Well, I'm looking forward to hearing what that individual has to say when it happens.
18:35But again, I won't know until they come in front of us.
18:38I suspect it's a move to placate.
18:41Any questions?
18:42Mm-hmm.
18:43Okay.