Priorities
The Signal Story is Far From a Closed Case
By U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner
In The Wall Street Journal
“Given the dizzying pace of events in Washington, Americans can be forgiven for wondering which issues are worth paying attention to, and which are like one of national security adviser Mike Waltz’s disappearing Signal messages—here today, gone in a second. More than a week after news broke that President Trump’s top advisers were using an unclassified messaging app to discuss details of a planned military strike, there’s still much we don’t know about this security breach.
“Any rank-and-file enlisted military or intelligence officer who so carelessly jeopardized our national security would lose his security clearance and his job. A nearly identical incident earlier this year involving a Homeland Security employee who accidentally included a journalist on an email chain with even less sensitive information resulted in that employee immediately losing her security clearance and being placed on leave.
"It’s disturbing that, despite the potential ramifications of this breach, no one has been held accountable for mishandling classified information—not Mr. Waltz, who initiated the group chat and who, we learned this week, has a habit of discussing sensitive government matters using unsecure channels; not Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who gambled with the airmen’s lives by sharing the details of weapons, targets and timing nearly three hours before military operations were scheduled to begin; and not Tulsi Gabbard, who as Director of National Intelligence is tasked with keeping our nation’s secrets safe from adversaries but appears to have lied about the incident when questioned before the Senate Intelligence Committee."
