Here’s how an iPhone glitch landed Atlantic Editor in White House's Houthi war chat

The incident prompted a forensic review by the White House IT office and raised serious concerns over operational security

In an extraordinary security lapse, Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz mistakenly added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat where top U.S. officials discussed planned military strikes in Yemen.

The error, which has raised fresh questions about digital security protocols at the highest levels of government, stemmed from a months-old mix-up in contact information. According to three people briefed on the White House’s internal investigation cited by The Guardian, Waltz inadvertently saved Goldberg’s phone number under the contact of someone else , a mistake that remained undetected until last month, when he formed a Signal group titled “Houthi PC small group.”

The internal review found the origin of the error dated back to October 2024. At the time, Goldberg had sent an email to the Trump campaign regarding a story critical of Trump’s stance on wounded U.S. service members. The message was forwarded to Waltz by then-campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes, who pasted the entire email, including Goldberg’s signature block, into a text.

Though Waltz never responded to Goldberg, his iPhone apparently saved Goldberg’s number under Hughes' contact during what the White House described as a “contact suggestion update,” an automated Apple feature that can link numbers to existing contacts based on perceived association, The Guardian said.

This misstep remained unnoticed until March 13, when Waltz attempted to add Hughes to the Signal chat about the Houthi strikes, but mistakenly selected Goldberg’s number. The incident prompted a forensic review by the White House IT office and raised serious concerns over operational security, especially given that Signa, while encrypted, is not classified for sensitive military coordination.

Trump, reportedly furious upon learning Goldberg had access to the sensitive discussion, considered firing Waltz, not primarily over the security breach, but because Goldberg runs The Atlantic, a publication the president openly despises, The Guardian reported. However, he ultimately decided to retain Waltz, partly to avoid handing a symbolic victory to the media, The Guardian reported.

Waltz has publicly denied knowing Goldberg, saying in a Fox News interview that the number had been “sucked” into his phone, seemingly referencing Apple’s contact-merging algorithm. Meanwhile, Goldberg declined to comment in detail when contacted by The Guardian, saying only, “I do know him and have spoken to him.”

Despite the blunder, Trump has stood by Waltz, even bringing him aboard Marine One last Thursday along with senior staff, in what aides interpreted as a show of confidence. According to The Guardian, Waltz also garnered some internal sympathy over the mishap, with officials noting that Signal was White House-approved due to the lack of an inter-agency alternative for real-time communication, a gap left unaddressed by previous administrations.