US Top Spy Chief Tulsi Gabbard Quizzed After White House Leaks War Plans To Journalist

<p>The top intelligence officials in the Trump administration are appearing before Congress for back-to-back hearings to provide their testimony on the threats facing the United States and the government&rsquo;s efforts to counter them.</p>
<p>National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director Kash Patel, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Tuesday began testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee at a public hearing on the global threats.</p>
<p>The hearing on Tuesday followed a report in The Atlantic stating that top national security officials, including his defence secretary, shared war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat, which also reportedly included the magazine&rsquo;s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Tulsi Gabbard declined to comment on whether she had participated in Signal chats on her personal phone. “I don’t want to get into this,” she said.</p>
<p>”I won&rsquo;t speak to this because it&rsquo;s under review by the National Security Council,” Gabbard said during Tuesday&rsquo;s hearing, responding to the committee’s Vice Chair Senator Mark Warner after being asked about her involvement in the chat. &nbsp;</p>
<p>She was among several top US security officials involved in the Signal group chat where information about the planned strike in Yemen was shared, as claimed by the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg. &nbsp;</p>
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<p>Gabbard said she was on an overseas trip at the time the chat took place, while responding to a question from Senator Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, who also questioned whether she had used a personal or government phone. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Senator Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, asked Gabbard and Ratcliffe whether the chat included details on targets, weapons, specific units or the timing of the Yemen strike. &nbsp;</p>
<p>To this she replied, “I don&rsquo;t remember a mention of specific targets,” adding “I believe there was discussion around targets, in general.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>”I think that&rsquo;s consistent with my recollection,” Ratcliffe said in response to the same question. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Democrats have called for an investigation into the war plan leak, though Ratcliffe and Gabbard have said no classified information was shared.</p>
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