{"id":6134,"date":"2025-04-04T02:58:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T02:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=6134"},"modified":"2025-04-04T02:58:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T02:58:21","slug":"concerned-for-service-members-governor-seeks-security-assurances-from-joint-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=6134","title":{"rendered":"Concerned for service members, governor seeks security assurances from Joint Chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to give assurances to all of the states and their governors about the specific steps being taken to protect national security in the wake of the recent use of the Signal messaging app by members of President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration to discuss sensitive foreign policy plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Democratic governor sent a letter on Monday to acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Christopher Grady \u2013 obtained exclusively by ABC News \u2013 asking that he intervene on behalf of service members&#8217; safety.<\/p>\n<div class=\"oLzSq QrHMO fnRUo pvsTF EhJPu vPlOC zNYgW OsTsW RMeqy daRVX ISNQ sKyCY eRftA acPPc MENS nFwaT MCnQE mEeeY SmBjI xegrY rPLsU iulOd NIuqO zzscu lzDCc aHUBM IEgzD OjMNy eQqcx SVqKB GQmdz jaoD VWDdR ONJdw vrZxD OnRTz gbbfF roDbV GPGwb oMlSS gfNzt oJhud eXZcf zhVlX \">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage GpQCA lZur asrEW \" data-testid=\"prism-inline-image\">\n<figure class=\"kzIjN GNmeK pYrtp dSqFO \" data-testid=\"prism-figure\">\n<div class=\"GpQCA lZur gIjeL \" data-testid=\"prism-ratio-frame\">\n<div class=\"FvQLF iLTd NqeUA UzzHi iWsMV \"><picture data-testid=\"prism-picture\"><source media=\"(max-width: 414px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/ffc142ba-17b9-4f42-89bd-4c5a80ee58df\/GettyImages-2205736554_1743720801593_hpMain.jpg?w=375, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/ffc142ba-17b9-4f42-89bd-4c5a80ee58df\/GettyImages-2205736554_1743720801593_hpMain.jpg?w=750 2x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 415px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/ffc142ba-17b9-4f42-89bd-4c5a80ee58df\/GettyImages-2205736554_1743720801593_hpMain.jpg?w=750, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/ffc142ba-17b9-4f42-89bd-4c5a80ee58df\/GettyImages-2205736554_1743720801593_hpMain.jpg?w=1500 2x\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"nMMea bNYiy Mjgpa dGwha DDmxa jgKNG RGHCC aBIU PriDW lZur \" data-testid=\"prism-caption\">\n<p><span class=\"hsDdd OOSI GpQCA lZur VlFaz \" data-testid=\"prism-truncate\"><span><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ \">Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at the Center for American Progress on March 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ YNujN JGtjI aZFDu rkKLh \">Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Pritzker said he was reaching out as he&#8217;s &#8220;lost faith&#8221; in the ability of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, one of the key members of the Signal incident, to &#8220;maintain the integrity of our national defense operations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;I am reaching out to you as our nation&#8217;s highest-ranking military officer as I have lost faith in the ability of the Secretary of Defense to keep service members safe and maintain the integrity of our national defense operations,&#8221; Pritzker wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The governor&#8217;s office did not comment on the letter in response to a request from ABC News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Please detail the exact steps the federal government will take to reign in dangerous and egregious behavior that compromises national security, and the steps it will take to ensure that appropriate, safe channels, methods, and protocols are used to protect classified information and secure communications,&#8221; Pritzker also requested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He said he&#8217;s seeking this information while keeping in mind the nearly 13,000 military personnel serving in the Illinois National Guard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;The Secretary&#8217;s carelessness not only put the lives of the pilots executing the operation at risk, but it put the lives of troops around the world on the line \u2013 including service members from the Illinois National Guard,&#8221; Pritzker wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Currently, over 1,700 Illinois National Guard members are deployed on federal active-duty service by directive of the President, so I cannot not stand by silent as their lives are put at risk,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Pritzker, who has been on the forefront of pushing back against Trump and his policies among Democrats nationwide, recently returned from a four-day trip to Mexico that was meant to boost economic partnerships between it and Illinois.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">ABC News has reached out to Grady&#8217;s office for a response to Pritzker&#8217;s letter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to give assurances to all of the states and their governors about the specific steps being taken to protect national security in the wake of the recent use of the Signal messaging app by members of President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration to discuss sensitive foreign policy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6136,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134\/revisions\/6136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}