Top Intelligence Officials Testify Amid Group Chat Leak Controversy

Today, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe are testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee in its annual worldwide threats hearing. Their testimonies come just a day after reports emerged of a leaked group chat—one that included a journalist—discussing sensitive national security matters, including potential war plans.

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Patrick Eddington, a senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato Institute, weighed in on the controversy, saying there are more important issues to address:

“To date, no evidence has surfaced that Signal’s code has been compromised by a hostile intelligence service, and any suggestions to that effect by any ‘experts’ should be disregarded absent presentation of verifiable evidence to the contrary. Jeffrey Goldberg’s apparent inadvertent inclusion on this particular Signal chat was idiotic and careless, but it pales to insignificance when compared to the regime’s attempts to disappear and render human beings out of the United States in defiance of court orders to the contrary.”

For media inquiries or to schedule an interview with Eddington, please contact mmiller@​cato.​org.