Takeaways: Trump Intelligence Chiefs Testify amid Yemen War Leak/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Trump administration intelligence leaders warned of rising threats from cartels and cross-border crime during a Senate hearing Tuesday. Democrats, however, focused on a leaked Signal chat revealing sensitive military plans. The event highlighted a sharp partisan divide over national security priorities and internal accountability.
Senate Hearing Quick Looks
- Intelligence officials testified on worldwide threats, focusing on drug cartels and trafficking.
- Democrats pressed for resignations after a security breach involving Yemen strike plans.
- DNI Tulsi Gabbard warned cartels now drive “unrest and lawlessness” in the Americas.
- FBI Director Patel vowed action against cartels newly designated as terrorist groups.
- CIA Director Ratcliffe was shouted down over the Signal messaging controversy.
- Leak involved texted attack plans shared with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg.
- Trump and Putin recently agreed to pause energy strikes in Ukraine conflict.
- China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea remain major state-level threats.
- Gabbard cited China’s AI race and Russia’s nuclear arsenal as key concerns.
- Rep. Jim Himes plans further questioning in the House Intelligence hearing Wednesday.
Key Takeaways: Trump Intelligence Chiefs Testify amid Yemen War Leak
Deep Look
The Trump administration’s intelligence leadership faced sharp scrutiny Tuesday in a high-profile Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, balancing warnings of growing threats from international drug cartels with fallout over a leaked group chat containing military attack plans.
The annual “Worldwide Threats” hearing was already expected to reflect a reorientation of national security priorities under President Donald Trump. But it also became a flashpoint for accountability after a now-confirmed Signal group chat—used by top officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard—included a journalist and discussed imminent U.S. military operations in Yemen.
Cartels at the Top of the Threat List
While Democrats zeroed in on the breach, Republican lawmakers and the intelligence chiefs focused heavily on transnational crime, human smuggling, and narco-terrorism as the central security issues facing the United States.
“Criminal groups drive much of the unrest and lawlessness in the Western Hemisphere,” Gabbard told lawmakers. She emphasized the escalating role of drug cartels in financing and conducting not only narcotics trafficking but also money laundering and human trafficking, declaring them a top-tier national threat.
FBI Director Kash Patel echoed that focus, linking violent crime in the U.S. to cartel-linked drug smuggling and pledging that the Bureau will aggressively pursue cartel-related threats. “The direction for the FBI is to track down any individuals with terrorist ties—including now, members of these cartels.”
The elevation of cartels to a status alongside foreign terrorist organizations marks a shift from past hearings that focused more on foreign cyberattacks, Chinese espionage, and global terrorism. Patel also reiterated ongoing efforts to monitor groups like ISIS and others with global reach.
Leak Sparks Democratic Outrage
But while Republicans stayed on message, Democratic senators blasted administration officials over the Signal chat leak—first reported by The Atlantic—in which attack plans for Yemen were shared in a group that mistakenly included the magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
“If this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost,” warned Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the committee’s top Democrat. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) went further, calling for resignations over what he deemed a reckless failure in secure communications.
At one point, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) shouted down CIA Director Ratcliffe during questioning, demanding accountability and calling the breach an “embarrassment.”
The Signal messages reportedly included specific operational details such as targets, weapon deployment, and sequencing for U.S. strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The airstrikes began just two hours after Goldberg received the texts, raising serious questions about command discipline and information control.
Goldberg has since defended the story and emphasized that what he saw in the chat was a genuine policy dispute, including Vice President JD Vance questioning whether President Trump grasped the consequences of the operation.
Gabbard defers to Hegseth when asked whether military information in Signal chat should have been classified
Asked whether information about weapons systems that was leaked in a sensitive group chat involving senior members of the Trump administration should have been classified, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard suggested the secretary of defense would be more equipped to answer the question.
Gabbard was responding to a question from Independent Sen. Angus King during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. King said he didn’t intend to discuss the chat that was the subject of a story in The Atlantic on Monday but decided to push Gabbard after she said it contained no classified information.
“Senator, I can attest to the fact that there were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time,” Gabbard told the committee, prompting King to ask: “So the attack sequencing and timing and weapons and targets you don’t consider to, should have been classified?”
Gabbard responded: “I defer to the secretary of defense and the National Security Council on that question.”
King encouraged Gabbard to release the entire text stream, parts of which The Atlantic withheld because of the sensitivity of some of the messages, “so that the public can have a view of what actually transpired” in the conversation.
“It’s hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified,” King told America’s chief intelligence officer.
Gabbard declines to say whether she participated in group chat discussing Yemen strikes
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declined to say whether she was involved in the leaked group chat discussing sensitive plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, citing ongoing reviews into it.
“Senator, I don’t want to get into this,” Gabbard responded when questioned by Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Sen. Mark Warner about whether she was involved in the conversation. She said she didn’t want to discuss the matter while it was under review by the National Security Council.
Warner said that “American lives could have been lost” because of the disclosure.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, meanwhile, admitted he was involved in the chat. But he said that his part of the conversation was “entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”
Congress must probe how widespread Signal use is in Trump administration, Democratic senator says
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot, called the Signal group chat used by Trump officials to discuss war plans “the dumbest thing I’ve seen in the handling of classified information,” and noted he is deeply concerned about how widespread the use of Signal for classified information may be in the Trump administration.
“That’s what needs to be part of the investigation is how routine is this … you’re talking about the highest levels of government with the, with the exception of the president of the United States, it’s his whole national security team,” said Kelly.
“This was probably, over the last 60 days, a regular practice. And who else knows what is out there, what has been shared and with what individuals? Maybe there’s some random person somewhere that also got added to a Signal chain,” the Arizona senator added.
Kelly called for an investigation.
“Folks need to be held accountable for this level of incompetence,” he said.
Strategic Rivalries and Shifting Diplomacy
Despite the controversy, Gabbard and Ratcliffe still highlighted state-level threats, including China’s growing stealth and AI capabilities, Russia’s military posture, and regional dangers posed by Iran and North Korea.
Gabbard warned that China’s investment in hypersonic weapons and nuclear modernization signals its intent to surpass U.S. technological superiority.
Meanwhile, last week’s Trump-Putin call, in which the Russian leader reportedly agreed to a pause in strikes on energy infrastructure, loomed over the hearing. The White House has framed that as a step toward de-escalation in Ukraine, though Russia continues to accuse Ukraine of violating the ceasefire with drone strikes.
The Kremlin called the Riyadh talks with U.S. officials “constructive,” though it confirmed no future meetings are scheduled. Ukraine, for its part, continues to suffer under Russian air assaults—most recently in Sumy, where over 100 were injured Monday.
What’s Next?
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, confirmed he will press the issue further during a scheduled hearing Wednesday.
“This was a dangerous lapse in protocol. I intend to get answers,” Himes said, calling the incident one of the most serious national security breaches he’s seen.
As the Trump administration tightens its focus on border crime and domestic threats, the backlash over how top officials manage sensitive operations is likely to grow, especially with heightened congressional oversight and the presidential campaign season ramping up.
You must Register or Login to post a comment.