US Senate calls for investigation into Signal app data leak

On March 27, the US Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed that it had asked the Department of Defense to investigate discussions by senior officials in the Trump administration about plans to attack Houthi forces in Yemen via the encrypted messaging app Signal.

In a letter to the acting inspector general of the US Department of Defense, Republican Senator Roger Wicker, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Democratic Senator Jack Reed requested an investigation into the incident and an assessment of compliance with policies on sharing sensitive information.

The two senators also requested a review of the classification and declassification policies of the White House, the Department of Defense, and intelligence agencies, as well as a review of whether any individuals transferred classified information from classified systems to unclassified systems.

Previously, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he was accidentally invited to a secret chat group called "Houthi PC small group" on the Signal messaging app on March 13.

The chat group included senior US government officials such as Vice President JD Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Ratcliffe and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

According to journalist Goldberg, National Security Advisor Waltz directed the establishment of an information exchange group to coordinate the bombing campaign against Houthi targets.

Hours before President Trump ordered a large-scale attack on Houthi positions in Yemen on March 15, Defense Minister Hegseth sent messages in the group about the target, the weapons the US would deploy and the sequence of attacks — something Hegseth denied.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt later accused journalist Goldberg of exaggerating the story and insisted no attack plans were discussed and no classified documents were sent in the conversation.

After the incident was revealed, many Democratic lawmakers called for Defense Secretary Hegseth and others involved in the conversation to resign.

For his part, National Security Advisor Waltz said he "takes full responsibility" for the incident. He also affirmed that he did not know and had never met or contacted journalist Goldberg.

Mr. Waltz also explained that the incident may have been caused by him accidentally saving journalist Goldberg's phone number under another name.

Meanwhile, speaking at a hearing at the US Senate Intelligence Committee on the information leak, US Director of National Intelligence Gabbard affirmed that "no classified documents were shared."

CIA Director Ratcliffe also confirmed that he participated in the Signal chat group but insisted that the exchanges were "entirely legal and valid"./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/thuong-vien-my-yeu-cau-dieu-tra-su-co-ro-ri-thong-tin-tren-ung-dung-signal-post1023307.vnp