I don’t know how to begin, or what to say. All of us have seen the news. An incredible breach of operational security……by those charged with safeguarding the nation and its vital interests! What can you say or do? Those placed in charge have failed in the most elementary aspect of professional tradecraft–securing classified information (whether or not the word CLASSIFIED appears on the document or has been formally stated). Highly sensitive, mission critical information must be protected according to the required procedures and safeguards. Those are not suggestions. It is the law. If you don’t know that, and if you argue that “I didn’t see any classification notice” on the information or “no one mentioned that information was classified,” you do not belong anywhere close to a responsible position in the intelligence community. This security failure would never be tolerated in a new, junior member of the IC. It is catastrophic when it appears at the highest levels and among several of the heads of the most sensitive agencies.

These leaders of the most important agencies of our government used a marginally secure system, Signal, for a top-level discussion of classified information and even brought in a total outsider–a journalist–and were totally unaware of his presence on the discussion thread, while they went ahead and dumped restricted intelligence into the discourse, which should have been held in a SCIF (sensitive compartmentalized information facility). All while preparing to send U. S. pilots into enemy territory to conduct a dangerous operation.

As expected, the President has played down the breach, and, true to form, has attacked The Atlantic journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, incredibly, for being responsible for having been placed on the discussion thread. He was placed there by Mike Walz, President Trump’s national security advisor. The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, denounced Goldberg, The Atlantic, and the media and claimed that he did not disclose classified information. The other members present on the Signal discussion dodged any responsibility during their testimonies before the Senate subcommittee that began looking into the security breach. Except for a few courageous souls willing to face the Trumpian/MAGA attack machine, most Senate and Congressional Republicans have remained mute on the seriousness of the incident.

So while our current Government denounces Canada, the EU, NATO, Ukraine, and cozies up to Russia and its wannabe Tsar Vladimir Putin, the gates of our security system are thrown open. Russian, Chinese, North Korean, and Iranian hackers, among others, will hardly need to break into the system to seize our most sensitive information. They can just get a Signal account and wait for the clueless amateurs to simply leave lying around what these adversaries are seeking!

It goes without saying that these lightweights should never have been confirmed by the Senate for positions of such grave responsibility. Too late now, but at a minimum, Walz and Hegseth should resign. The others should receive at least official reprimands. But none of that will happen. The administration has continued to denounce Goldberg and the media in general for concocting a “hoax”, Mr. Trump’s favorite tactic when his actions or policies are criticized. It is the classic play of the demagogue: deny, deflect, distract. Instead of attacking him, the government should be praising the fact that Jeffrey Goldberg pulled himself offline once he understood that he was privy to a sensitive operational discussion conducted by top U. S. officials! At first, he thought it was a sham invitation to the group, but when the attack was ultimately reported in the news, Goldberg realized that somehow he had been included in a highly sensitive Signal thread–a discussion where operational details were revealed that could have forewarned our adversaries and endangered the lives of the U. S. servicemen who were carrying out the attack. We were very lucky this time.

This is not the United States of America that I recognize. Like many others of my generation, and those before and since, I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States both in military service and again in federal service in the intelligence community. I have never retracted my commitment to that oath either as military or civilian. I am bound by it until the day I die. I am certain that nearly all of my fellow Americans who have served their country feel the same way. But I am outraged and distressed by the reluctance of the White House and the Congress to demand complete accountability and by the irresponsibility of officials serving at the highest levels of our government. We dodged a bullet this time, but it must not happen again.

Whatever your political feelings, you should feel ashamed that we have come to this state of affairs. As Americans, it appears that we cannot even count on our leaders to protect our national interests. Their duty to do so is enjoined by their sworn oaths to the Constitution. To avoid any future disaster due to reckless, avoidable breakdowns in security, we must insist on complete transparency in getting to the bottom of this thoughtless blunder. Instead, we are being subjected to denial and deflection and the whining excuses of those who have shown us clearly that they possess neither the character nor the professional qualifications for the high offices they hold. They have demonstrated their woeful incompetence to the whole world. It is inexcusable. May God save the United States of America.