St. Paul Reporter

Representative Betty McCollum, who has been serving Minnesota’s 4th district in the U.S. Congress since 2001, expressed concerns over security practices within the Department of Defense through a series of tweets on March 26, 2025. Her comments addressed issues surrounding communication protocols and accountability among senior officials.

On March 26, 2025, McCollum tweeted about Secretary of Defense's use of a non-secure messaging app to discuss military operations. She stated: ".@SecDef used a non-secure, commercial messaging app to discuss the timeline of an impending military operation. This information in the hands of adversaries would certainly put American lives at risk."

In another tweet on the same day, McCollum criticized Secretary Hegseth's actions and highlighted potential repercussions for similar conduct by other military personnel. She wrote: "If anyone else in the military did what Secretary Hegseth did, they would be fired immediately, could be dishonorably discharged, and certainly would lose their security clearance. We cannot have one set of rules for the Secretary and another set of rules for everyone else."

Further emphasizing accountability, McCollum called for investigations into all involved parties using Signal chat for official discussions. On March 26, she stated: "Everyone on the Signal chat must be held fully accountable, including the other 18 senior Trump Administration officials who had a duty to intervene immediately. They failed to do that. Republicans in Congress must immediately issue subpoenas, hold hearings, and investigate this."