Current and old US officials said to CNN They believe that two texts sent by the National Security Counselor Mike Waltz and the CIA director John Ratcliffe in the Chat Group involving US senior authorities discussing Hethis attack plans in Yemen may have caused long-term US damage to gathering intelligence over Iran-supported group.
Although the messages of the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth detailing the sequencing, time and weapons to be used in a March attack on Houthis attracted the greatest attention because they could endanger the US military, the messages of Waltz and Ratcliffe, in the chat to which the Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg editor was added, contained sensitive information, and sensitive information. They said these sources.
In one of the messages, Ratcliffe told other cabinet members that they were arguing whether they should delay the attacks that the CIA was in the act of mobilizing assets to collect intelligence about the group, but that a delay could offer them the opportunity to “identify better starting points for the coverage of the Houthy leadership.”
The text, according to current and former employees, exposed that the US is gathering intelligence about the rebel group, but also suggested how the agency is doing it.
The language on “starting points”, these people said, clearly suggests that the CIA is using technical means such as air surveillance to spy on its leadership. This could allow Houthis to change their practices to better protect themselves.
Then, in a later message, Waltz offered an extremely specific attacks report of the attacks, telling the topic that the military had “positive identification” of a particular senior houthi leader “entering the building of his girlfriend”-offering Hethis a clear opportunity to see who the US was watching and potentially finding out how, allowing them to avoid this vigilance in the future, the sources added.
Houthis “have always been difficult to track,” said a former intelligence officer. “Now you just stand out to them that they are in the sight.”
Trump government officials, including Waltz and Ratcliffe, repeatedly insisted that no confidential information was shared in the text. Ratcliffe, in his statement before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday (25), made specific reference to his message about “starting points”.
But current and old authorities vehemently disagreed with this assessment: the types of information not only in Hegseth’s texts, but also from Ratcliffe and Waltz, included very clear references to sources and methods.
Even if it was not an explicit or technical description, these people say, it is information that the US government would normally remain because it could allow an opponent to interfere with US sources and methods.
“(Ratcliffe) was basically speaking as if he were in a scif,” said another former intelligence officer, referring to a safe room reinforced against electronic surveillance that is designed for discussions of confidential material.
“He is the director,” said the first former officer, calling Ratcliffe’s text “irresponsible.”
A CIA spokesman said to CNN that “Director Ratcliffe takes his responsibility to safeguard America’s ability to gather extremely serious intelligence.”
“Nothing he transmitted on chat represented any risk to any sources or methods,” added the spokesman. “The only lasting damage is for the Houshi terrorists who were eliminated.”
THE CNN contacted the National Security Council to comment.
Career employees provided a “reminder” about the use of Signal
The use of signal – a non -confidential and non -governmental platform that employees say it is potentially vulnerable to foreign hackers – for this kind of sensitive conversation was alarming for CIA career employees, two employees familiar with the subject said to CNN .
The CIA regulations allow the use of signal in working phones and, under a rule change during Biden administration last year, on table computers as well, according to US officials.
It is not just approved but encouraged, communicating basic logistics movements, such as who is available to go to the office or what time holds a meeting.
Both Ratcliffe and Gabbard witnessed in the Capitol this week that the signal was pre-charged on their computers when they arrived for their first day at work.
And the application is widely used throughout the government, seen as a safer form of communication because it is encrypted from end to end.
“Everyone is in the sign, day and night,” an employee told CNN speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations in the White House.
Biden government officials also used it routinely to discuss logistics planning for meetings and sometimes to communicate with foreign colleagues.
Confidence in signal security is reinforced by the fact that the application is open source, which means its code is available for independent experts to examine vulnerabilities.
But, like any high -value target messages, state -backed hackers tried to find a way to get into the signal chats, leaving open the possibility that it can be vulnerable to curious looks.
A report from last month of Google -owned by Google, found that spies linked to Russia tried to invade the Ukrainian military signal accounts taking place by reliable application contacts.
At least in the CIA, it is forbidden to discuss operational issues in Signal. And other national security agencies have also issued warnings that he is not infallible and certainly not a substitute for classified networks.
“It is the safer (commercial messaging application), but is not sanctioned for confidential information,” said a US employee. “And be careful with confidential information that is not confidential.”
“There are ways to use the significant sign for alignment, but you just can’t cross this line of confidential data for obvious reasons,” another US official said.
However, even after what current and old employees – and some congress members – they say it has been a catastrophic error, so far, there seems to be little official reaction to violation, as expected in previous administrations.
The CIA was not in charge of conducting an assessment of damage to determine whether any sources and methods were exposed by the violation, the Defense Department should not make any changes in its security protocols because, according to a senior military officer, “this would be interpreted as admission of irregularity.”
The National Security Council, led by Waltz, performed a review of how The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to the group.
During an interview with Fox News earlier this week, Waltz said he assumed “total responsibility” for the incident because he “created the group”, but then belittled The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg by offering conflicting and confusing explanations about how his number ended up on his phone.
President Donald Trump has publicly suggested that the signal may be “defective”, but it is unclear if there will be any review of regulations or policies around the official use of the application.
At the same time, Trump and his leading chat employees continue to publicly minimize the sensitivity of the information in themselves and the inherent risks associated with their dissemination by non -confidential channels in an attempt to resist the ongoing political storm.
But it was Ratcliffe who witnessed earlier this week that “pre-care deliberation should be conducted by confidential channels,” rare but tacit recognition, than current and old authorities insist on being obvious: some of the information should never have been shared on a signal group chat.
This content was originally published in chat -leaked texts may have harmed US information collection on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
