U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, is shown during a congressional field hearing on Countering Violent Extremism, Terrorism and Antisemitic Threats in New Jersey. Monday, October 3, 2022
Out gay Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) will soon introduce legislation that would criminalize the sharing of classified information on messaging apps, like Signal, with up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Axios reported.
The bill probably won’t pass the Republican-led legislature. It is a direct response to the recent leak of military information by White House officials on Signal — something that has been called the “highest level of f**kup imaginable.” While administration officials have denied that the leak contained classified information, numerous Democrats have refuted that claim and called on anti-LGBTQ+ Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to resign over the incident.
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On Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was accidentally included in a private text messaging group of high-ranking officials discussing plans for military strikes on Yemen against Houthi rebels just hours before the attacks took place. Such sensitive military discussions are typically held through more secure communication channels that help keep out unauthorized listeners, The Washington Post reported.
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The group chat included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President J.D. Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, possibly Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, Axios reported.
As Democrats criticized Hegseth and the chat’s other participants for the leak, saying it could have cost soldiers’ lives and calling on Hegseth to resign, White House officials claimed that no classified information had been shared in the group chat. So Goldberg and his publication published screenshots of the chat on Wednesday.
“I’m introducing legislation that would make it a crime for government officials to put sensitive information like war plans on … all channels of communication that are deemed insecure,” Torres told Axios, adding, “[It is] well-documented that Signal is an insecure means of transferring information.”
Waltz said on Tuesday that he takes “full responsibility” but added that he wasn’t sure how Goldberg — who he referred to as the “bottom scum of journalists” — ended up on the chat. Critics say that the chat’s members may have violated the Federal Records Act, the Presidential Records Act, and the Espionage Act of 1917, the latter of which prohibits “deliberate intent to disseminate or mishandle classified information in an unauthorized way.”
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