Getty Images
Last month, confidential war plans were leaked to a journalist through a group chat that included Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
On March 13th, a group chat consisting of Trump administration members was created on the app, Signal, where they discussed plans for military operations, including potential strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. What the members didn’t realize was that Jeffery Goldberg, editor and chief at The Atlantic, was a member “accidentally” added to this chat.
Alongside Goldberg, Vance, and Hegseth, the group consisted of the creator of the chat, US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, C.I.A. Director John Ratcliffe, and multiple other senior officials who were not listed with their full names.
In the revealed messages, plans were discussed for upcoming strikes on the Houthis, an Iranian-backed group that has been threatening international shipping costs in the Red Sea. The group members started the conversation off by discussing the timeline for when the action should go through, as well as weapon packages, targets, and praise after the job went through.
The use of this nonclassified app threatens a risk on national security, as well as an impact on the lives of active service members. If the group had been leaked to someone other than Goldberg, the person could have been led to inform the Houthis on the planned attacks, where they could have then attacked US facilities in the Red Sea and cause fatal injuries to US troops.
According to a former senior intelligence official, “They broke every procedure known to man about protecting operational material before a military strike…You have a total breakdown in security about a military operation.” (cnn.com)
Though Trump has no current plans to fire anyone involved, Massachusetts representative and veteran, Seth Moulton (D), has spoken on behalf of his many military contacts.
“They’re disgusted, and the ones who are still on active duty, I think, are honestly wondering, how are they expected to lead their troops?” Moulton said to WBZ-TV’s political analyst Jon Keller, “How are they expected to make sure that their Marines or soldiers or airmen or sailors actually follow the rules to keep our nation safe when the top guy in the Department of Defense refuses to do so and has zero accountability for his own behavior?”
It has not yet been confirmed the reason why the group was discussing potential classified operational plans of a nongovernmental chat app, but Trump has recently downplayed the addition of Goldberg, claiming that the officials did not share any classified information in the chat.