An investigation requested by the Senate Armed Services Committee into Trump administration members' use of the Signal platform to discuss strikes on Houthi terrorists in Yemen will determine if classified information was improperly revealed and if officials should be using the site for discussions, Rep. Mike Turner said Sunday.
"First off, this was a very successful operation and there were no consequences to the operation itself," the Ohio Republican told ABC News' "This Week." "But oversight is working."
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who chairs the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat on the committee, last week said they asked the Pentagon to investigate the use of the Signal app in a chat that was inadvertently shared with Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has come under attack, in particular, after he laid out details of a planned strike on the Houthis.
Turner said that the investigation is important because it will "go to the heart of the source of the information and the inconsistency across agencies as to the use of Signal and the appropriateness of the use of Signal."
Turner said that the status of ongoing military operations "should be considered classified information" and it was "surprising" to find it being shared in an unclassified manner.
"It is not, however, war plans," he said.
He added that Goldberg "really did oversell" the discussion he observed, and The Atlantic lost credibility with its reporting.
"Beyond that, it does go to the issue of whether or not the White House has said there was no classified information being discussed, and I think it is surprising people are struggling with the information that's there because this information really has, at its roots, classified content," said Turner.
The individuals discussing the information, including Hegseth, would have the ability to declassify the information, said Turner.
"It would be within [Hegseth's] authority," he said. "It goes to the issue of judgment, should this have been discussed in a Signal context?"
Turner added that both China and Russia have compromised Signal, so "you do have to wonder whether or not the conversation would be vulnerable."
The congressman also said he does not use Signal for chat conversations, as people who use it "have an assumption of privacy that it just does not provide."
Meanwhile, Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz are "incredibly important to our national security," and the conversation had no impact on the Houthi strikes.
"I do think the intelligence committees are taking up this issue, and there will be a review going forward whether signal should be used and whether or not these types of conversations should occur," said Turner.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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