Did Senator Ted Cruz release classified information during Republican debate?

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Washington: The powerful Republican head of the Senate Intelligence Committee has said his staff is reviewing transcripts to see if Senator Ted Cruz revealed classified information during Tuesday night's Republican debate.

"I'm having my staff look at the transcripts of the debate right now," Senator Richard Burr, told reporters on Wednesday morning. "Any time you deal with numbers ... the question is, 'Is that classified or not?' Or is there an open source reference to it?"

Ted Cruz, right, speaks during an exchange with Marco Rubio, left, as Ben Carson, second from left, and Donald Trump look on. Photo: AP

Senator Burr said that while he had not seen the comments the matter had been raised with him so he would have staff make inquiries.

The comments being considered stem from one of the more heated exchanges during the debate between Senator Cruz and his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Senator Marco Rubio, over the contentious National Security Agency program of bulk data monitoring and retention.

Cruz shouldn't have said that.

— Becca Glover Watkins (@beccaglover) December 16, 2015

Senator Ted Cruz at the debate. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon

Senator Cruz said at one point as the two sparred, "What he knows is that the old program covered 20 to 30 per cent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 per cent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case."

In his response Senator Rubio – who unlike Senator Cruz sits on Intelligence Committee - suggested that Senator Cruz's comments might have revealed too much.

"Let me be very careful when answering this," he said, "because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information."

Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz. Photo: AP

Moments later Senator Burr's communication's director Becca Glover Watkins, tweeted, "Cruz shouldn't have said that."

Throughout the campaign Senator Rubio has argued that Senator Cruz's support for the USA Freedom Act, has dangerously limited the program, which was revealed by Edward Snowden.

"I promise you the next time there is an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it, and the answer had better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked," he said during the debate.

Senator Cruz contends that the new law is more targeted but also more effective as an intelligence gathering tool.

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