Mar 27, 2025 11:56:00

The Atlantic, which is in the midst of a controversy over a case in which a civilian was invited to a Signal chat group for a US military project, has released a large number of screenshots, leaving vivid records such as 'the target was seen entering his girlfriend's house'

On March 24, 2025, the monthly magazine 'The Atlantic' reported that '

The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was invited to a top-secret government chat discussing war plans, and the contents of the conversation were leaked .' At the time of the initial report, only a small part of the chat contents was made public, but after the president and government officials said that 'the chat did not contain classified information,' a large number of screenshots recording the contents of the chat were made public on March 26, 2025.

Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump's Advisers Shared on Signal - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/signal-group-chat-attack-plans-hegseth-goldberg/682176/

On March 11, 2025, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, received a connection request from a Signal account claiming to be 'Michael Waltz' and was prompted to join a group called 'Houthi PC small group.' This 'Michael Waltz' was the real Michael Waltz, National Security Advisor, and the group included 18 government officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance. Within the group, plans to attack the bases of the Yemeni armed group Houthi were discussed, and the military plans that should have been strictly protected were leaked to Mr. Goldberg, a civilian. Mr. Goldberg took issue with the handling of information on military plans and published an article summarizing the series of events on The Atlantic's website on March 24, 2025.

President Trump's aide accidentally leaks top-secret war plans, actual screenshots also released - GIGAZINE

Following The Atlantic's report, voices have been raised in the United States questioning the handling of information by government officials, but Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, said at a Senate hearing on March 25, 2025, 'No classified information was shared in the Signal group chat.' In addition, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who participated in the chat group in question, also defended himself, saying, 'My communications on Signal were completely legal and did not contain any classified information.' Furthermore, President Donald Trump also said, 'I understand that no classified information was shared.'

In response to the response from the president and government officials, The Atlantic stated that 'The Trump Administration is downplaying the significance of the text message it mistakenly sent to The Atlantic's editor-in-chief' and published an article titled 'Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump's Advisers Shared on Signal' on March 26, 2025.

When publishing the article, The Atlantic sent an email to the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Council (NSC), the Department of Defense, and the White House stating, 'Today, several government officials, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated that 'Signal Group's information on the Houthis is not classified and does not contain war plans.' In light of this, The Atlantic is considering publishing the full text of the Signal chat,' asking whether the full text should be made public. As a result, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt responded, 'As we have repeatedly stated, no classified information is being sent in group chats.' Therefore, The Atlantic published the full text of the Signal chat with only the edit of 'withholding the names of CIA officials.'

The top part of the group chat looks like this. There is a record of President Waltz inviting Goldberg.

The list of participants in the group chat is below. In addition to National Security Advisor Waltz, the list includes Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.

At 11:44 on March 15, 2025, Secretary of Defense Hegseth sent details of the Houthi base attack plan, saying, 'I have confirmed permission to start the mission with CENTCOM (US Central Command),' 'I will launch the F-18 at 12:15 (first attack package),' and 'I will start the first attack window at 13:45 (the target terrorists should appear on time).' Vice President Vance commented, 'Good luck to the warriors.' The Atlantic points out that, regarding Secretary of Defense Hegseth's actions in revealing details of the attack in a group chat including civilians before the attack began, 'If this message had been received by someone hostile to the United States, the Houthis could have had a significant impact on the US military pilots in preparation for the attack.'

Also, at 13:48 on the same day, National Security Advisor Waltz posted, 'Vice President, the building has collapsed and multiple identities have been identified. Great job, Pete, Kurilla, and the intelligence community.' He continued, 'We saw the first target (head of the missile division) enter his girlfriend's house. The building has collapsed.'

It is unclear why Goldberg, a civilian, was invited to the group chat in question.