Hudson Valley Congressman Takes Lead on Investigation into War Plans Leak

With Hudson Valley area congressman and military veteran Pat Ryan taking the lead, House Democrats with military backgrounds called for accountability and a full investigation Tuesday after revelations that Trump administration officials inadvertently leaked sensitive war plans via an unsecured Signal chat.

Ryan, a District 18 Democrat and former Army intelligence officer who served two combat tours in Iraq, led off a press conference in Washington yesterday, alongside fellow veterans, condemning what he called a “watershed moment” of incompetence in national security.

“We believe in our country we need to speak up not as Democrats or Republicans, but as patriots and say it is absolutely unacceptable that sensitive security information – operational information – that would put American lives, lives of our constituents in harm’s way” would be leaked, Ryan said at the press conference, which is available to view on Facebook.

The lawmakers stressed how they’re seeking a full probe into the leak.

“At a minimum, we’re calling on our Republican colleagues to share in that joint call for accountability, that there needs to be a fulsome and transparent investigation into what happened with the leakage of the information that we know about and potentially much more sensitive national security information out there,” Ryan added. 

In a separate cable news appearance this week, Ryan emphasized how if he had disclosed information in that way, he “would not only lose my clearance, I would probably be at Fort Leavenworth in federal prison right now.” 

“Friends across the military,” he added, “have been texting me saying goodness gracious, had we done this, we know what would have happened to us.”

Controversy erupted when The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, reported on Monday that he was mistakenly included in a Signal group chat with top national security officials. 

The chat revealed discussions about military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The group included high-ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. ​

Hegseth, a former Fox & Friends host and Army officer, has disagreed with the criticism.  

“Nobody was texting war plans and that’s all I have to say about that,” the Associated Press reported Hegseth saying in an exchange with reporters on Monday.

But earlier today The Atlantic published the full Signal chat from a leaked group text, revealing detailed airstrike plans and specific targets in Yemen, 

Ryan was joined yesterday by Representatives Mike Thompson, Ted Lieu, Mikie Sherrill, Chrissy Houlahan, Seth Moulton, Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Eugene Vindman, Herb Conway, Derek Tran, and Gil Cisneros.

Thompson (D-Calif.), a Vietnam veteran and former member of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted the breach as a “mind-boggling” lapse in judgment. 

“We’re dealing with a gang that can’t shoot straight,” Thompson said. “This is an incredibly serious unforced error that they made. And their error put American service members’ lives in danger. And that is not something that we’re going to tolerate. We learned very early, every one of us in our careers, that loose lips sink ships.”

Lieu (D-Calif.), a former Air Force colonel, singled out Hegseth for his role in the blunder. 

“You could put pilots at risk,” he said. “If a foreign intelligence service somehow was monitoring that group chat, they could have given it to Houthis and Houthis could have shot down a pilot. It’s really, really disturbing that the White House still does not seem to understand the seriousness of this problem. Even today. They’re saying somehow that this information was not classified. They are just lying.”

He noted how all of those participating in the press conference served in uniform.

“We know that that would have been classified,” he emphasized. “You cannot talk about the time, date, place, targets, sequence of strikes and not have that be classified because, again, you’re putting American troops’ lives at risk.”

Other Democratic veterans, including Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, spoke passionately at yesterday’s event.

“Having traveled myself to Moscow, I know the type of operational security that is expected there of military members,” Sherrill said. “I know the briefings that I received. And so to think that now we have a government that has so little concern for our security is really, I think, infuriating.”