Trump aide accidentally leaks top-secret war plans, actual screenshots revealed
A Trump administration adviser accidentally invited the editor-in-chief of monthly magazine
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/
Hegseth slams The Atlantic: 'Nobody was texting war plans'
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/24/hegseth-trump-atlantic-yemen-houthis-text-war-plan
Messages with Yemen war plans inadvertently shared with reporter appears 'authentic': Official - ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-officials-accidentally-shared-yemen-war-plans-group/story?id=120106043
On March 15, 2025, the United States bombed the bases of the Houthi rebels, a pro-Iranian Yemeni militia that continues to attack merchant ships in the Red Sea. American media has characterized this attack as 'the most significant military action since President Trump's re-election.'
On March 24, 2025, The Atlantic reported that its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, knew about the upcoming airstrikes in Yemen two hours before they began.
According to Goldberg, he received a connection request from a Signal account claiming to be 'Michael Waltz' on March 11. At the time, Goldberg did not believe that it was the real
Furthermore, when Goldberg was notified to join the chat group, he joined the 'Houthi PC small group,' which included 18 senior government officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 'PC' stands for principals committee.
Then, on the morning of the 14th, the day before the bombing, National Security Advisor Waltz sent the group a message saying, 'Team, as directed by the President, you should have your conclusions and mission statement in your high-side (government slang for a classified communications system) inbox this morning.' Things started to move in a big way.
In the subsequent exchanges between the officials, the Trump administration spoke frankly about its reluctance to take measures to secure the Suez Canal, the fact that the situation in the Red Sea is changing due to the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire and other factors, and that it is believed that only the United States can deal with this issue. Waltz also posted a lengthy comment implying that the EU has limited maritime capabilities.
The Signal screenshots posted by Goldberg contain some pretty graphic exchanges, including Vice President Vance's statement, 'If you think we should do it, let's do it. But I'd really hate to save Europe again,' and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's response, 'I completely share your disgust for Europe free-riding. It's really pathetic. But as Mike said, we're the only ones on this side of the planet that can do this, and no one else even comes close. It's a matter of timing. Given that the President has ordered the routes reopened, I feel like now is the perfect time.'
Even after watching this exchange, Goldberg was skeptical because it could well be a disinformation campaign being waged by a foreign intelligence agency to target and disrupt journalists.
And most importantly, it was hard to believe that the US leadership would be using Signal, a free messaging app albeit end-to-end encrypted, to communicate about impending war plans, and even if it were genuine, it was hard to imagine that they would invite ordinary civilians into it.
Additionally, on March 15, the day of the bombing, Secretary of Defense Hegseth posted a 'team update' containing operational details for upcoming attacks on Yemen, including information on targets, weapons to be deployed, and the sequence of attacks. Goldberg is withholding details from this post because it contains information that could cause significant damage to U.S. forces if it falls into the hands of a U.S. hostile country.
Hegseth's message said that the first reports of the first bombings in Yemen would come in two hours after the post, and when Goldberg checked Twitter at that time, he saw a video of explosions echoing throughout Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.
Below are some reactions from members of the Houthi PC small group to reports of the bombing of Yemen, ranging from an emoji of Assistant Secretary of State Waltz to MAR's statement that 'Good job Pete and team!'
Goldberg said of his own experience seeing the exchanges, 'Cabinet-level officials, like National Security Adviser Waltz, may already be violating government policy and law by simply emailing each other about operations. But by Waltz, perhaps accidentally including a journalist like me on his Key Leadership Committee, he created additional security and legal issues. This group was sending information to people who were not authorized to receive it. Even if it was unintentional, and even if the recipients of the leaks didn't realize it was a real leak until the U.S. attacked Yemen, this is the classic definition of a leak.'
The White House confirmed the authenticity of The Atlantic's report, with National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes saying, 'At this time, the reported message thread appears to be authentic. We are investigating how the erroneous number may have been added to the thread chain.'
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Hegseth, who arrived in Hawaii for an official visit to Indo-Pacific countries including Japan, denied The Atlantic's report that the war plans had been leaked, telling reporters, 'Nobody is texting war plans. That's all I can say about that.'
Continued
The Atlantic, which is in the midst of a controversy over a case in which a civilian was invited to a US military planning Signal chat group, releases a large number of screenshots, leaving vivid records such as 'the target was seen entering his girlfriend's house' - GIGAZINE
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