The White House declined to say Thursday how it would restrict the classified information it shares with Congress, or how it would respond to lawmakers who argue that their oversight obligations require access to the information.
Comments came shortly before a classified briefing on Iran by Senate Trump administration officials.
“This administration wants to ensure that classified intelligence does not end in irresponsible hands, and that those who have the privilege of viewing this top secret confidential information are responsible for it,” Executive Director Caroline Leavit told reporters in a briefing.
“And unfortunately, obviously, those who got this – and very few people in the government who saw this report, who were irresponsible for it,” Levitt added, referring to the assessment of the early Defence Intelligence Agency, which discovered that our strike against Iran did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program.
“We need to strengthen that process to protect national security and protect the American people,” says Leavitt.
The Trump administration plans to limit what it shares with Congress, a senior White House official told CNN on Wednesday. The report believes it was released after it was posted on Monday to Capnet, a system used to share information classified with Congress.