(CNSNews.com) - How did a 21-year-old airman have access to top-secret information? Why did he leak it? And what kind of damage has it done?
Those are some of the questions Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he will be asking this week, when the Biden administration gives a senators-only briefing on the leak of classified material on an Internet gaming website.
"I've been to Saudi Arabia," Sen. Graham told ABC's "This Week," as he joined the program from Israel:
"I can promise you, it's been very damaging. There's information about Mossad supposedly helping the protesters. There's information about the air defense capability of Ukraine. And everybody in the region's really worried because, who wants to share information with the United States if you're going to read about it in the paper or find it on the Internet?
"So, this has done a lot of damage to us in the region."
Graham noted that he also served as an Air National Guardsman years ago:
"I was a captain and major. I would be surprised if I had that kind of information.
“Yes, the system failed. This is a major failure. And those who are trying to sugarcoat this on the right, you cannot allow a single individual of the military intelligence community to leak classified information because they disagree with policy.
"I don't know what led to this airman's actions, but he's done a lot of damage to our standing. It's very hard to get people to come forward right now to tell us about things we need to know about if they feel like they're going to be compromised. The sources, the methods of how we collect on adversaries have been compromised. And I am stunned that somebody at that level could have so much access.
"So, the question is, how did he get it and why did he do it. And we - some people need to be fired over this."
Graham said it's "not okay" for some conservatives to give the suspect a pass for leaking classified information. (Host Jon Karl mentioned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Fox News host Tucker Carlson as those who are defending the suspect.)
"What they're suggesting will destroy America's ability to defend itself -- that it's OK to release classified information based on your political views. That the ends justify the means. It is not OK," Graham said:
"If you're a member of the military intelligence community and you disagree with American policy and you think you're going to be OK when it comes to leaking classified information, you're going to go to jail.
"It's one of the most irresponsible statements you could make. The ability for America to gather intelligence from human resources on the ground has been compromised. We can't have a chaotic intelligence-gathering system. If you give us information and it's disclosed, you can lose your life.
"The way we gather intelligence protects our country. There are military members serving today from Georgia and other places who are less safe because of what this airman did.
"There is no justification for this. And for any member of Congress to suggest it's OK to leak classified information because you agree with the cause is terrible irresponsible and puts America in serious danger."