The Trump administration made an unexpected error by sharing the war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included a journalist - the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic magazine. News agency AP quoted National Security Council saying that the text chain “appears to be authentic.”
The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, shared a report detailing an unexpected invitation he received on March 13 to join an encrypted chat group on the Signal messaging app, named the "Houthi PC small group."
In the group, national security adviser Mike Waltz instructed his deputy, Alex Wong, to organize a "tiger team" to coordinate U.S. efforts against the Houthi group, said Goldberg.
The Guardian reported that, the top officials responsible for the mistake include Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
They were using the messaging app Signal to coordinate their strategy. Signal application is encrypted but it is not approved for sharing classified information.
On Monday, March 24, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied reports that top White House officials had shared classified war plans regarding strikes against the Houthis in Yemen with a journalist.
At Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam in Oahu, Hegseth addressed the media, criticizing the journalist involved as "deceitful" and accusing him of spreading false information.
He firmly stated that no one had "texted war plans." Hegseth further responded, "I've heard that was characterized, but no one was texting war plans. And that's all I have to say about that."
While National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said confirmed that the message chain "appears to be authentic," and said, "We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain."
Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, revealed that he was inadvertently included in a Signal text chain where sensitive national security issues, including details of air strikes in Yemen, were being discussed.
Goldberg explained that on March 13, he received an invitation to join an encrypted chat group called the "Houthi PC small group." Within the group, national security adviser Mike Waltz assigned his deputy, Alex Wong, the task of organizing a "tiger team" to coordinate U.S. efforts against the Houthis.
President Donald Trump announced strikes on March 15.
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