Darrell Blocker, a former CIA operative, told US broadcaster ABC News that the information Hegseth shared “was 100 per cent classified”.
‘Amazing job’
Despite Trump and his officials saying the information shared in the chat was not classified, Pentagon officials aware of the planning believe it was classified at the time it was sent, one official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Military experts say Waltz may also have compromised intelligence sources by referring to the “girlfriend’s building” that had collapsed.
Doing so suggested the US was using either a person on the ground to track the target’s movements, or an overhead surveillance drone or some other type of technology, former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman told ABC News.
Smoke rises from a location reportedly struck by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 15.Credit: AP
“For us to know where this gentleman was at that exact moment means you’ve got real-time intelligence,” he said.
An unnamed defence official quoted by CNN said the information the officials shared in the chat was definitely classified. “It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court-martialed for this,” the official said.
Hegseth has declined to answer questions about whether he declassified the information on the Signal chat, perhaps retroactively. In Hawaii on Wednesday, he played down the controversy, telling reporters the texts contained “no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods”.
In Jamaica, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was part of the chat group, acknowledged to reporters that someone “made a big mistake” by adding a journalist to the chat. But he also dismissed concerns about any impact on the operations.
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Reuters, with staff reporters
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