Last week, a Trump administration group chat was leaked to the public, which revealed United States war plans. The chat, using the messaging platform Signal, included key cabinet officials and members of White House staff. One member of the group chat accidentally included a journalist from The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, who posted the leaked conservation online. The chat discussed the United States’ plans for a missile strike against the Houthis, a military organization in Yemen, right before the attack outlined in the messages occurred.
The message chain included U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, along with many others. On March 13, Waltz added the reporter to the chat and asked the members of the chat to give the name of a staff member in their agency to coordinate with. On Friday, March 14, Waltz and Vance discussed the benefits and concerns of an attack on Yemen, with Vance concerned about how the attack will affect President Trump’s messaging on Europe and Waltz highlighting the importance of striking before another nation does. Some key points to take away from the messages are that the goal of the attack was “restoring freedom of navigation” and to show that Europe’s defense is not enough to stop attacks from the Houthis. On Saturday, March 15, the attack was carried out, which collapsed a building. After the members of the chat congratulated the teams behind the attack, Goldberg left the chat.
The Trump administration has responded by downplaying the significance of the messages that were leaked, claiming that the information revealed was not a threat to national security. Pete Hegseth denied the claim that the messages leaked were “war plans,” saying that “nobody’s texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say,” after Goldberg’s article was published. Michael Waltz claimed full responsibility for the incident and said that Goldberg’s number was listed under a different person’s name. He also insulted Goldberg, calling him “the bottom scum of journalists.” Both Ratcliffe and Gabbard denied that there was any classified information shared in the messages. President Trump echoed the same statement, saying that there was no classified information, and defended Waltz for his mistake. He then claimed that the press coverage of the incident was a “witch hunt” and that he was not going to fire any members of his administration over “fake news.”
Goldberg has denied the claim that Waltz adding him to the chat was an accident, saying, “numbers don’t just get sucked into other phones.” He also argued against the claim that no classified information was revealed. Goldberg stated, “If Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, is texting me, telling me the attack was about to be launched on Yemen – telling me what kind of aircraft are going to be used, what kind of weapons are going to be used, and when the bombs are going to fall two hours after the text is received – that seems sensitive information, war-planning information to me.” He claimed that any other person would be fired over such a mishandling of classified information and that Trump’s officials were given unequal treatment. United States fighter pilots have chimed in on the danger of the timing of aerial attacks getting leaked, saying that it will get someone killed and that the Pentagon is not taking the proper precautions to ensure the safety of pilots. The ranking Democrat and the Republican ranking member on the Senate armed services committee are calling for an investigation into the incident.
Thankfully, the messages were leaked to an American journalist who waited until the events were over before issuing the information to the public. However, it could have been very dangerous to national security if an adversary of the United States was accidentally given the plans instead. The unprofessional nature of the chats between officials and the morality of how they spoke about the bombing also brings up many questions about how the administration is handling foreign attacks. This incident, while small in actual impact, displays that in order to gain the public’s trust, the Trump administration needs to act more professionally and better ensure that national security does not get compromised.
Junior Nicholas Carpenter is the Opinions Editor. His email is ncarpent@fandm.edu.