On Monday The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published an article claiming he was included, by an apparent accident, in a chat group on messaging app Signal where plans for American airstrikes on the Houthi militant group in Yemen were discussed.
The Pentagon referred Newsweek to the National Security Council when asked for comment on the apparent security lapse. The NSC did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a spokesperson for the agency previously confirmed to Goldberg the Signal group chat “appears to be an authentic message chain.”
Why It Matters
A wave of U.S. airstrikes hit Houthi targets on March 15 killing 53 people according to Yemen’s health ministry, which is run by the group. Additional airstrikes followed in the subsequent days.
Details of U.S. military operations are not supposed to be conducted over publicly available platforms such as Signal, and a number of security experts have said the chat group could have violated the Espionage Act. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump focused heavily on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton‘s use of a private email server for official business as secretary of state.
What To Know
Newsweek has reproduced all the Signal group messages that were published by The Atlantic, either by being written out by Goldberg or included in the article as screenshots. It is unclear what proportion of the messages The Atlantic chose to make public, and some details were kept secret for security reasons.
Thursday, March 13
White House National Security Advisor Michael Walz: “Team – establishing a principles group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.
“Pls provide the best staff POC [point of contact] from your team for us to coordinate with over the next couple days and over the weekend. Thx.”
MAR [Marco Antonio Rubio]: “Mike Needham for State.”
JD Vance: “Andy baker for VP [vice-president].”
TG [presumed to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard]: “Joe Kent for DNI.”
Treasury Secretary Scott B [Bessent]: “Dan Katz for Treasury.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: “Dan Caldwell for DoD [department of defense.]
Brian: “Brian McCormack for NSC (national security council).”
Goldberg added that CIA Director John Ratcliffe replied “with the name of a CIA official” which he decided not to publish for security reasons.
Friday, March 14
Michael Waltz: “Team, you should have a statement of conclusions with taskings per the Presidents guidance this morning in your high side inboxes.
“State and DOD, we developed suggested notification lists for regional Allies and partners. Joint Staff is sending this am a more specific sequence of events in the coming days and we will work w DOD to ensure COS [chief of staff], OVP [office of vice president] and POTUS [president of the United States]are briefed.”
JD Vance: “Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
Joe Kent: “There is nothing time sensitive driving the time line. We’ll have the exact same options in a month.
Pete Hegseth: “VP: I understand your concerns – and fully support you raising w/ POTUS. Important considerations, most of which are tough to know how they play out (economy, Ukraine peace, Gaza, etc). I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are – which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.
“Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus. 2 immediate risks on waiting: 1) this leaks, and we look indecisive; 2) Israel takes an action first – or Gaza cease fire falls apart – and we don’t get to start this on our own terms. We can manage both. We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should. This [is] not about the Houthis. I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence, which Biden cratered. But, we can easily pause. And if we do, I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC [operations security]. I welcome other thoughts.”
Michael Waltz: “Whether it’s now or several weeks from now, it will have to be the United States that reopens these shipping lanes. Per the president’s request we are working with DOD and State to determine how to compile the cost associated and levy them on the Europeans.”
JD Vance: “If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.
“Let’s just make sure our messaging is tight here. And if there are things we can do upfront to minimize risk to Saudi oil facilities we should do it.
Hegseth: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this. Nobody else even close. Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes. I think we should go; but POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision space.”
SM [Stephen Miller]: “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light, but we soon make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return. We also need to figure out how to enforce such a requirement. EG, if Europe doesn’t remunerate, then what? If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return.”
Pete Hegseth: “Agree.”
Saturday, March 15
According to Goldberg, Hegseth posted a “TEAM UPDATE” which included “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”
JD Vance replied: “I will say a prayer for victory.”
Goldberg said Michael Waltz later posted another update describing the attacks as an “amazing job,” though he chose not to share details for security reasons.
John Ratcliffe: “A good start.”
Waltz: Posted fist, American flag and fire emojis.
MAR: “Good Job Pete and your team!!”
Susie Wiles: “Kudos to all – most particularly those in theater and CENTCOM! Really great. God bless.”
Steve Witkoff: Posted two hands praying, one flexed bicep and two American flag emojis.
TG: “Great work and effects!”
What People Are Saying
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the texts to reporters: “You’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again…This is a guy who peddles in garbage…Nobody was texting war plans and that’s all I have to say.”
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic responded to Hegseth during a MSNBC interview: “The Secretary of Defense seems like a person who is unserious and is trying to deflect from the fact that he participated in a conversation on an unclassified messaging app that he probably shouldn’t have participated in.”
Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the NSC, confirmed the veracity of the group text to Goldberg: “This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta called it: “A very serious mistake” that “could violate the espionage laws, but more importantly, could undermine our national security.”
President Donald Trump claimed no knowledge of the incident, stating: “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it’s a magazine that’s going out of business. But I know nothing about it. You’re saying that they had what?”
What Happens Next
Goldberg said he left the Signals chat group, so will be unable to report on any additional conversation. It is unclear at this point whether there will be an investigation into what went wrong.
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