Writing a blog is a bit like throwing ideas out into the ether, which is defined in the dictionary as that region of space beyond the earth’s atmosphere. One has no idea where or how they will be received, or indeed whether they will be received at all, let alone understood. In addition, certain ideas and observations are not at all unique and when repeated can become redundant, surplus to requirements, but the does not make them any the less valid. So my continuing comments on the fiasco of the ‘Houthi PC small group’ chat will not be any more insightful, but they help me putting them in perspective.
Two the group, the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe, appeared before the United States Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats. Amongst other matters they were asked questions about the group chat which inadvertently came to light having included a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg the editor in chief of The Atlantic magazine. Mr Goldberg published his story about how it all came to light, and included some of the text chat between the participants. What he very carefully did not do was publish the whole of the exchange, in particular information that revealed specific plans of the attack on the Houthi camps or headquarters in Yemen. This information, he stated, included names of specific aircraft to be used, the names of pilots, the types of weapon systems and the names of targets. Mr Goldberg was very clear that, as a responsible journalist, he did not want to divulge what might be considered national security matters and took himself out of the group as soon as he felt uncomfortable with the information he was getting.
After the release of the story, Mr Hegseth, the Secretary of Defence, was asked about the group chat and its implications. Mr Hegseth reacted angrily accusing the journalists of being discredited and a purveyor of many hoaxes. Indeed his boss, Mr Trump claimed The Atlantic wasn’t much of a journal and was going out of business anyway.
During the course of the Senate Hearing, Ms Gabbard refused to even acknowledge that she was a member of the group whilst adding that no classified material was discussed during the group discussion. She refused to acknowledge anything that was written in the texts. When pressed “If nothing was classified, show us the text’s now”. Stony silence. Mr Ratcliff admitted he was in the group and kept going on about how it was perfectly legitimate to use the encrypted end to end App for such discussions. He said he did not know how Mr Goldberg came to be included in the group. When asked about certain portions of the texts read back to him, he claimed he did not remember those statements being made.
It was also put to them, that if, by some chance, the Houthi had got hold of the contents of the text could they not have been prepared to defend against the attack and shoot down American pilots and aircraft. Ms Gabbard insisted that no classified material was revealed.
What is so incredibly obvious, from the demeanour and evasions of these people in front of the committee, is that they were lying. Indeed, when Ms Gabbard was asked if there was no classified material discussed, then Mr Goldberg who be perfectly safe from prosecution if he now revealed the rest of the texts he held back. Stony evasion by Ms Gabbard. The same question was put to the new FBI Director Mr Patel, who was sitting next to Ms Gabbard, and he too evaded the answer.
The lies and obfuscations were so blatant, shameful and embarrassing. It was an insult to the intelligence of the public and the Senators on the committee, even those who actually supported Ms Gabbard and Mr Ratcliffe. That anyone can support them in lying to a congressional hearing is astounding in itself. In any decent government these people should be resigning their positions. Instead they will continue to vilify the journalist who caused them embarrassment, who has been put in the position of having to defend his own reputation by effectively accusing them of lying. Mr Goldberg should be lauded by the Senate Committee for having exposed this travesty of security and the incompetence of these people, who should all be asked to resign.
At some point the Senate Committee will actually have the full unedited text and will be able to measure just how much the statements made to them were accurate. Whether or not any of that actually happens and any further action is taken is, in my view, unlikely. It will be considered a blip as it has already been described. Nothing about this appalling administration will change. I know that I am not the only person to think that and that many more people have similar views. I am just putting it out there into the ether.
Note: Correction: Since writing this Mr Goldberg has publised the rest of the texts - I stand corrcted in that it did anot contain the names of pilots or the locations of the actual specific targets. The text did say everything else. If anyone had informed the Houthi group of this information, two hours before the strike, they would have had, I'm sure, plenty of time to respond and be prepared. But of course that was not classified information, so what difference did it make.
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