Watch Live: Chief Intel testifies on House Committee, appears with new signal text

Washington – National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe returned to Capitol Hill to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday New text messages are exposed from Group Chat Senior Trump officials discussed sensitive plans to targets attacked in Yemen.

Shortly before the hearing, the Atlantic released additional information showing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided details on the strike to a panel of senior Trump officials, including a timeline of when the fighter will take off and which weapon will be used. The group accidentally included Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who revealed the first texts earlier this week.

Gabbard and Ratcliffe appeared Wednesday along with FBI Director Kash Patel, with NSA Director Timothy Haugh and Defense Intelligence Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse at the hearing, ostensibly focusing on the global security threat facing the United States, but the signal leak and its consequences occupied the impact of the early problems.

Rep. Jim Himes, the committee's top Democrat, punished intelligence leaders at the beginning of the hearing, saying they put the lives of the troops at risk.

“Everyone here knows that the Russians or Chinese might have had all this information, and they could have passed it on to Hotis, and they could have repositioned the weapon easily and changed their plans to knock down a plane or sink a ship,” Hims said.

Gabbard acknowledged that the conversation was “sensitive”, but again denied the confidential information shared in the chat.

She told lawmakers that she told the White House defense: “There is no source, method, location or plan of war.

Hims told Gabbard that under ODNI's own guidance, “information that provides instructions or warning in advance that the United States or its allies are preparing for an attack” should be classified as top secret. Gabbard said the information Heggs disclosed in the chat would fall under the Department of Defense’s classification guidelines, which she was not familiar with.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat of Illinois, noted that the Department of Defense's classification manual said: “If it is reasonable to expect its unauthorized disclosure to cause descriptive damage to national security, the information should be classified.” Krishnamoorthi said an executive order issued by President Barack Obama used a similar language in the order retained by President Trump, i.e., “If it is reasonable to expect its unauthorized disclosure to cause damage to national security, including military plans, weapons systems or actions.”

“Applying executive orders and the Ministry of Defense manual to this factual model, we have obviously identified the weapon system. This is information in classification,” Krishnamoorthi said after reading Hegseth's text.

Ratcliffe defended his participation in the chat, saying the CIA officer he sent to the group was his chief of staff, not an undercover agent.

“My answer has not changed. I used a proper channel to convey sensitive information. Doing so is allowed. I did not transmit any confidential information, and most importantly, the task was a huge success.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat of Texas, accused officials of misleading the public and believed that “sensitive” information was provided to lawmakers with “high classification.”

“If you submit this information to our committee, it won't be classified, you all know it's a lie. It's ridiculous,” he said.

Castro asked NSA director Haugh if his agency would be classified if such details were intercepted. It will be classified as protecting resources and methods, “not necessarily based on content.”

Republicans on the committee responded to the scandal at the hearing, most focusing their problems on other areas of national security. Rep. Rick Crawford, Arkansas, said at the hearing that he wanted members to discuss the Senate Intelligence Committee’s questions about the panel chat and discuss “the real and existing threats facing our country.”

One of the most refined moments at the hearing was when Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a Democratic California, asked Hegseth about drinking habits and whether intelligence officials knew the Secretary of Defense was affected before sending texts about the strike. Gabbard said she knew nothing about Hergs’ personal habits. Ratcliffe shot backwards: “I think this is an offensive question. The answer is no!”

“Of course, we want to know if his performance is compromised!” Gomez said during the round-trip heating.

Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe Baked by Democrats On Tuesday in the Senate panel about security breaches. Both parties acknowledged that they were part of the chat, but denied that they shared confidential information.

Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, forced them to discuss the target, weapon system or time in a chat at a hearing Tuesday. They claimed they did not remember the details discussed.

“Did Yemen mention the target in the signal chain we’ve been talking about?” Kelly said.

“I don’t remember mentioning specific goals,” Gabbard replied. Ratcliffe said the answer was “consistent with my memories.”

Gabbard also said she did not remember the “specific name of a system or weapon used or named” that Ratcliffe responded. They also said they do not remember mentioning the timing of use or military assets.

Mr Trump said Tuesday he would “investigate” whether administration officials should continue to communicate using encrypted messaging apps, but to a large extent Dismissed The severity of the leak.

Annual Threat Assessment

This week’s House and Senate hearings coincide with the release of the intelligence community’s annual threat assessment. This year's 31-page report details the threats posed by foreign illegal drug actors, such as drug cartels in Mexico, Islamic extremists, China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

“In recent years, cooperation between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea has been increasingly rapid, strengthening the threat to each of them while posing new challenges to the power and power of the United States on a global scale,” the assessment said.

According to the report, Russia's war in Ukraine accelerates cooperation between four countries and Russia, increasingly relies on others to achieve their military goals and mitigate the economic consequences imposed by its opponents.

The assessment said that despite the high costs associated with the Ukrainian invasion, “Russia has proven to be adaptable and resilient” and that the Air Force “is more modern and more capable than it was when the invasion began.”

“The Ukrainian war has provided Moscow with a large number of lessons on combat against Western weapons and intelligence,” the report said. “This experience could challenge future U.S. defense plans, including other opponents who share these lessons with Moscow.”

It added that Russian President Vladimir Putin's chances of losing power “are likely less now than at any time in his quarter-century rule.”

China is considered to be the “most capable” to threaten foreign interests. The country poses the “most comprehensive and powerful” military threat to the U.S. national security, and the “most active and lasting” cyber threat to the government, the private sector and critical infrastructure networks. However, intelligence agencies assess that China is “more cautious than Russia, Iran and North Korea because it is too aggressive and destructive to risk its economic and diplomatic image in the world.”

The intelligence community expects that Beijing will call for pressure in 2025 when seeking unification with self-contained islands.

Meanwhile, Iran will continue to target former and current U.S. officials in order to kill Qassem Soleimani, who leads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the report said. But despite the ongoing threat posed by Iran, Mr. Trump has revoked security details from several former officials.

The report also said Iran has not built nuclear weapons and that supreme leader Ali Khamenei has not re-authorized the plan, “although the pressure may be built on him,” the report said.

In North Korea, leader Kim Jong Un is increasing his nuclear warhead stocks and “has no intention to negotiate his strategic weapons plan, which he sees as a guarantor of regime security and national pride.”