“If you want to head the National Security Division at the Department of Justice, you don’t stick your head in the sand when we’ve had a serious breach of our national security so that you don’t have to answer uncomfortable questions.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) pressed President Donald Trump’s nominee for Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg about The Atlantic’s reporting of Trump’s Cabinet members and other top White House officials using the Signal app to discuss plans for military operations and his reluctance to look at the facts of this concerning report.
Watch his remarks here. Download his remarks here.
Key Excerpt:
On his lack of awareness and carelessness in protecting national security:
Schiff: What happened in this Signal chat should never have happened. Do you agree with that?
Eisenberg: No, as I said before, I would need to know more.
Schiff: Have you read the Signal chat?
Eisenberg: I have not yet.
Schiff: You have not read it. Are you desiring to be willfully blind to what just happened?
Eisenberg: No, I was trying to prepare for this hearing, among other things.
Schiff: Oh, and you didn’t anticipate you’d be asked about this. Or is it because you anticipated you would be asked about this and you didn’t want to inform yourself of this incredible breach of national security?
Eisenberg: There are millions of things going on in the world at any given time. So, I just didn’t happen to learn about this one.
Schiff: Oh, I see there are millions of things going on. Yes, I’m sure there are millions of things going on in the world. But this happens to be probably the biggest national security story of the month, which include a lot of other national security stories, including a war in the Middle East, and including capitulation to Putin and Russia, but you just happen to neglect to read this one. Is that what we’re led to believe?
Eisenberg: I just happen not to read it, that’s all.
Schiff: Well, let me ask you this, if you’re using a commercial app to discuss the identity of targets, their locations, and that information were to become public, it could compromise those operations, couldn’t it?
Eisenberg: It depends on what the operation is and where in the operation –
Schiff: Well, let’s say an operation to strike targets in Yemen, Houthi targets that identify, say a top missile operative, and the location of the girlfriend’s building. Those kind of specific details discussed on a commercial app could jeopardize that operation if it became public. Isn’t that true?
Eisenberg: It depends on the circumstances.
Schiff: Well, I just gave you the circumstances.
Eisenberg: That’s why I’m not going to answer a hypothetical question.
Schiff: Well, it’s not hypothetical. I wish to hell it were hypothetical. This just happened. This was shared with a journalist on a commercial app. You need more information than that? Well, how about discussing denigrating our European allies on a commercial app? Could that have diplomatic fallout?
Eisenberg: I don’t know the circumstances.
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