Rep. Mike Lawler: Leaked Classified DoD Documents ‘Deeply Alarming’ – Biden Administration Needs to Be Way More Aggressive’
(CNSNews.com) – The Biden administration needs to be “way more aggressive” and “less laissez-faire about the Defense Department classified documents leak, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday.
When asked whether too many people within the federal government have access to classified material, the congressman, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said “clearly.”
“We obviously are dealing with a situation where it’s either incompetence or gross negligence. The White House and administration have failed to protect classified materials here,” Lawler said.
“This comes on the heels of our adversaries like China flying a spy balloon over the entire continental United States unimpeded and collecting sensitive material and information about our military sites, and now we have this massive leak that significantly impacts our allies in Europe, in the Indo-Pacific and the situation in Ukraine, and so this is frankly a calamity of epic proportions and the administration seems extremely flat footed and unclear about what to do,” he said.
The congressman said the leak is “a significant breach” that put lives at risk.
“Look, it has been one crisis after the next when it comes to national security starting with the withdrawal in Afghanistan, which was completely botched, and obviously the lead-up to the invasion in Ukraine,” he said.
“I just came back from a trip to the Indo-Pacific in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and there are serious questions about American leadership, and this administration and this president in particular have been asleep at the switch, and it is a major problem,” Lawler said.
“And when you look at the crisis in Ukraine and the fact that, you know, our intelligence and potential sources and folks who cooperate with our intelligence agencies are now put in jeopardy, especially in Russia, that is a significant breach,” the congressman said. “There is no question this is a form of espionage and we need to get to the bottom of it extremely quickly.
“Lives are at risk, and the situation in Ukraine is critical, and for this information to get out in the manner that it did and expose potential sources and folks who cooperate with our intelligence agencies. This is deeply alarming and the administration needs to be way more aggressive in getting to the bottom of it and not so non-laissez-faire about it if it is just some Wednesday morning. This is serious, and they need to take it seriously,” he said.
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