On March 18, in an extraordinary breach of national security, several members of the Trump Administration accidentally leaked confidential military plans for an American strike on the Houthi militant group in Yemen. The leak came from texts being sent over the commercial messaging service Signal, when a journalist was mistakenly added into a group chat.
According to The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, was sent a connection request by Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, on Signal. The app is designed with privacy in mind, and it is commonly used by journalists due to its encryption ability. Although Goldberg felt that the invitation was dubious—especially given the Trump Administration’s views on the media—he accepted the request. A few days later, he was added into a group chat called “Houthi PC small group.” In the group were high-ranking officials in Trump’s cabinet. These members included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Some of the first messages that Goldberg considered to be an oddity came from JD Vance. Vance commented on how a fraction of American and nearly half of European trade goes through the vital Suez Canal in Egypt. He then went on to state that he wasn’t sure if Trump’s rhetoric surrounding Europe was consistent, and went on to raise concern about a spike in oil prices.
In response, according to The Atlantic, Hegseth remarked that immediate action was required to ensure that conflict in the region could be settled on America’s terms, which Hegseth said included freedom of navigation and deterrence. A day later, on Saturday, March 15, Hegseth once again messaged the chatroom, in which he stated that strikes in Yemen would begin at around 1:45 P.M. EST. When Goldberg checked X shortly after that time, he found that the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, was experiencing explosions.
According to The Guardian, Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, confirmed to Goldberg that the chatroom was, indeed, authentic, and that the Signal chat—which is not approved by the US government for sharing confidential information—legitimately had members of Trump’s cabinet. When President Donald Trump was asked about the incident, he claimed he didn’t know what was going on, and only stated that he didn’t like The Atlantic. According to The New York Times, The Atlantic only published its reports and and messages after the Trump Administration asserted that all of the information shared in the chatroom wasn’t classified.
According to The Times, the Trump Administration has been hesitant to take full responsibility for the leaks. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt played down the incident, claiming that what was being discussed were not war plans, and that The Atlantic’s article was written to deface officials under the Trump Administration. Leavitt also claimed that Signal was, in fact, approved for government usage, and added that Elon Musk’s team was investigating the addition of Goldberg into the group chat. When Trump ultimately responded, he said that he was unsure if the information was classified, and also expressed doubt over Signal’s security. Despite this, Trump has gone on to say that since the strikes on Yemen were successful, there was nothing more to worry about.
The response from American lawmakers has not been positive. According to The Guardian, democratic lawmakers have demanded answers on how a journalist was added to a group chat discussing airstrikes in a foreign country. Senator Mark Warner stated that he believed that it is a show of incompetence by the administration. Furthermore, Republican lawmakers have also demanded for answers from the administration. The Guardian also reported that lawmakers have said that the leak poses major political problems for them. There are other Republicans who are calling for committees to investigate the leak, which include the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
The leak of confidential information from the Signal chatroom by members of the Trump Administration is proving to be a political firestorm for the Republican Party, and a huge security blunder for the entire nation. As of now, further investigations are pending, with nothing concrete set.
