U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz representing Florida's 1st Congressional District | Official U.S. House headshot
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz representing Florida's 1st Congressional District | Official U.S. House headshot
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressmen Matt Gaetz (FL-01) and Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) have issued a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding the provision of inaccurate information to Congress about the withdrawal of over 1,000 U.S. troops from Niger earlier this year.
On March 21, 2024, Assistant Secretary for Defense for International Security Affairs Dr. Celeste Wallander testified during a House Committee on Armed Services hearing that Niger “has not asked or demanded” that the U.S. military leave Niger. However, in response to an April letter from Rep. Gaetz, the Department of State stated on July 9, 2024, that it had received “a diplomatic note” from the government of Niger on March 19, 2024, terminating the agreement allowing U.S. military presence in the country and revoking access to facilities.
The full text of Congressmen Gaetz and Panetta’s letter is available online.
In their letter to Secretaries Austin and Blinken, Reps. Gaetz and Panetta expressed concern about internal communication within the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of State (DoS) leading to misinformation being relayed to Congress regarding the troop drawdown in Niger.
The letter highlighted discrepancies between Dr. Wallander's testimony on March 21 and information provided by DoS in response to Rep. Gaetz's inquiry about communication timelines with Niger’s self-identified government CNSP concerning troop withdrawals.
Dr. Wallander's statement contradicted DoS records indicating receipt of a diplomatic note from CNSP on March 19 terminating agreements related to U.S. military presence in Niger.
Given these discrepancies, Reps. Gaetz and Panetta requested answers to specific questions regarding DoD's awareness of CNSP's diplomatic note before Dr. Wallander's testimony and sought all relevant correspondence between DoD and DoS concerning this matter.
The congressmen requested a coordinated response by September 5, 2024.
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