Wicker, Colleagues Press FBI For Update in Investigation of Pentagon Official

WASHINGTON, May 26 -- Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, issued the following news release and letter:

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined his colleagues Senators Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., to request an update regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s efforts to probe whether Dr. Colin Kahl, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, had publicly disclosed classified information.

The letter follows up on an April 2021 request by 18 senators, including Wicker, to investigate whether Kahl had disclosed classified information after leaving the Obama administration. Wicker updated this request after reports suggested Dr. Kahl had also possibly leaked sensitive information to the press related to the Chinese spy balloon.

"Our concerns have only grown after news reports emerged on March 9, 2023, that Under Secretary Kahl 'leaked classified information about the Chinese spy balloon to deflect blame about the Biden administration's mishandling of the situation,'" the senators wrote. "Indeed, only a day earlier, two Senators sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin raising concerns about Kahl's alleged leak of classified information, noting: 'It remains unclear whether this leak was cleared internally through the proper channels. Either way, it was a brazen attempt to shift blame.'"

This latest effort also comes after a series of inquires led by Wicker and Rubio into the Biden administration's deflection on basic questions regarding the Chinese spy balloon. The Mississippi senator penned an op-ed in Fox News detailing the enormous harm that the Chinese spy balloon did to American national security.

Wicker previously opposed Kahl's nomination for Undersecretary of Defense, citing his record of partisanship during the Obama administration. The Mississippi senator said that Kahl's "words and actions show he is incapable of providing the leadership the American people deserve."

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May 24, 2023

To: The Honorable Christopher Wray, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

Dear Director Wray:

We write to request an update from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on a letter sent to you on April 13, 2021, and signed by 18 United States Senators, and to provide additional, relevant information that has recently come to our attention.

In that letter, the 18 Senators requested that the FBI investigate whether Dr. Colin Kahl, who at the time was President Joe Biden's nominee to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, after leaving government employment under the Obama Administration, (1) publicly disclosed classified information and controlled unclassified information, (2) discussed classified information and controlled unclassified information with U.S. government officials, or (3) solicited U.S. government officials to provide, or otherwise received, classified information and controlled unclassified information. (See attachment 1.)

Our concerns have only grown after news reports emerged on March 9, 2023, that Under Secretary Kahl "leaked classified information about the Chinese spy balloon to deflect blame about the Biden administration's mishandling of the situation." Indeed, only a day earlier, two Senators sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin raising concerns about Kahl's alleged leak of classified information (see attachment 2), noting:

It remains unclear whether this leak was cleared internally through the proper channels. Either way, it was a brazen attempt to shift blame. Most egregiously, Dr. Kahl omitted a key detail in his distribution of this sensitive information to the press--the prior Chinese balloons were only discovered much later. The Trump administration did not have an opportunity to respond at the time.

Given this and other developments, we continue to believe that Kahl's actions require investigation by the FBI to determine whether any laws were broken, as described in the Senators' letter to you dated April 13, 2021. Thank you for your consideration of this matter of importance to the Senate and U.S. national security interests.

Sincerely,

Bill Hagerty, United States Senator

Roger F. Wicker, United States Senator

Ted Cruz, United States Senator

Tom Cotton, United States Senator

Marco Rubio, United States Senator

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Original text here: https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/5/wicker-colleagues-press-fbi-for-update-in-investigation-of-pentagon-official