BURSTGOP Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.) called for “safeguards” to be implemented to ensure the leaking of war plans doesn’t happen again after a journalist was included in a Signal group chat discussing them.
“Classified information should not be transmitted on unsecured channels — and certainly not to those without security clearances, including reporters. Period,” Lawler said Monday in a post on the social platform X.
“Safeguards must be put into place to ensure this never happens again,” he added.
The Pentagon has received widespread backlash Monday after Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, revealed he was added to a group chat on Signal earlier this month in which Trump administration officials debated and discussed details of the U.S. conducting attacks against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The group reportedly included national security adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Goldberg wrote in The Atlantic that Waltz connected with him on Signal on March 11, and he was invited to join a group chat called “Houthi PC small group” two days later.
Hegseth reportedly sent details of the attack on the Houthis, which began March 15, to the group hours before the attack began, including weapons used, timing and targets.
The U.S. launched the strikes in response to attacks from the Iranian-backed militant group on military and civilian ships in the area.
National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes confirmed the messages in the chat appear to be “authentic,” adding that the success of the attack on the Houthis shows there were no threats to U.S. troops or national security.
Democrats have been quick to slam Hegseth, accusing him of incompetence and questioning how a reporter was able to be included in the chat without anyone knowing.
Lawler, a more moderate member of the House GOP, has been among the Republicans more willing to break with the administration in certain instances.