On Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) discussed the briefing he received this afternoon on the alleged leak of classified documents and said that if he were a U.S. ally, “I would be wondering whether the United States can keep their secrets safe.” And he wishes he “was hearing a lot more kind of hair-on-fire stuff inside the administration,” because he’s “not hearing” how we’ll ensure secrets our allies share with us are protected.
During an appearance on CNN’s “OutFront,” Himes stated, “I’m not exactly sure why we had the briefing, because it’s a little early in the investigation for them to know anything. I suspect it was to try to calm the waters and to do a little outreach to Congress. … I must say, I’m glad to know that the State Department is reaching out to our allies and I’m glad to know that there’s an investigation underway. But this is really serious stuff. And what I didn’t hear was something I expect to hear in the coming week or so, which is, who did this? How were they able to do this? And most importantly, how can we make sure it never happens again? And this is pretty key for our allies, right? We rely on our allies to share intelligence and they need to trust us. And right now, for all the soothing tones that I heard from the secretary of state, if I were an ally right now, I would be wondering whether the United States can keep their secrets safe.”
On MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Himes said, “I must tell you, I left the briefing a little more upset than when I started. You heard the secretary of state just now — for whom I have infinite respect — speaking in soothing tones about reaching out to our allies. Look, we have a huge problem here. And as a member of Congress, it is our job to do oversight, to make sure that these kinds of problems never happen again. I really wish I was hearing a lot more kind of hair-on-fire stuff inside the administration, because this is a very serious leak. We don’t know exactly what’s authentic or what’s been altered. But I’ve been paying close attention to this stuff since the Snowden disclosures. And these disclosures have the potential to actually change, for the worse, action on the battlefield. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but look, not only — if I were a U.S. ally right now, I wouldn’t want soothing tones, I wouldn’t rededicated statements of how we’re going to work together. I would want to know, what are you going to do to make sure that the secrets that we share are protected. And I’m not hearing that yet.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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