CIA Director John Ratcliffe defended his role in a Signal group chat on Houthi strike plans, insisting before a Senate panel that his participation was legal and documented. He noted the government had installed Signal on his work device for official use, a practice that “preceded the current administration to the Biden administration.”
“It is permissible to use to communicate and coordinate for work purposes provided, provided, senator, that any decisions made are also recorded through formal channels,” Ratcliffe testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “My communications, to be clear, in a single message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”
“One of the first things that happened when I was confirmed as CIA director was Signal was loaded onto my computer at the CIA, as it is for most CIA officers,” Ratcliffe stated. “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. It is. That is a practice that preceded the current administration to the Biden administration.”
The Trump administration came under scrutiny Monday after The Atlantic revealed that one of its journalists was mistakenly added to the Signal group chat, where top defense and national security officials were discussing the Houthi operation. Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, reported that he was inadvertently added to a group labeled “Houthi PC small group” and received details about the planned attack two hours before the U.S. military operation took place.
