Trump officials texted war plans to a group chat in a secure app that
included a journalist
[March 25, 2025]
By TARA COPP, AAMER MADHANI and ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top national security officials for President Donald
Trump, including his defense secretary, texted war plans for upcoming
military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that
included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in
a story posted online Monday. The National Security Council said the
text chain “appears to be authentic.”
Trump initially told reporters he was not aware that the highly
sensitive information had been shared, 2 1/2 hours after it was
reported. He later appeared to joke about the breach.
The material in the text chain “contained operational details of
forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including
information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and
attack sequencing,” editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.
It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation
were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to
protect service members and operational security. The U.S. has conducted
airstrikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting
commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.
Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on
March 15, the U.S. began launching a series of airstrikes against Houthi
targets in Yemen.
The National Security Council is looking into the matter
The National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking
into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain in the Signal
group chat. In addition to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, it included
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Tulsi
Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence.
Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump's
national security adviser, who was also in the group chat.
Hegseth in his first comments on the matter attacked Goldberg as
“deceitful” and a “discredited so-called journalist” while alluding to
previous critical reporting of Trump from the publication. He did not
shed light on why Signal was being used to discuss the sensitive
operation or how Goldberg ended up on the message chain.
“Nobody was texting war plans and that’s all I have to say about that,”
Hegseth said in an exchange with reporters after landing in Hawaii on
Monday as he began his first trip to the Indo-Pacific as defense
secretary.
In a statement late Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt
said the president still has the “utmost confidence” in Waltz and the
national security team.
Earlier Monday, Trump told reporters: “I don’t know anything about it.
You’re telling me about it for the first time.” He added that The
Atlantic was “not much of a magazine.”
By early evening, the president jokingly brushed it aside. He amplified
a social media posting from Elon Musk spotlighting a conservative
satirical news site article with the cutting headline: “4D Chess: Genius
Trump Leaks War Plans to ‘The Atlantic’ Where No One Will Ever See
Them."
Government officials have used Signal for organizational correspondence,
but it is not classified and can be hacked. Privacy and tech experts say
the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging and voice call app is more
secure than conventional texting.
Reaction poured in quickly
The sharing of sensitive information comes as Hegseth's office has just
announced a crackdown on leaks of sensitive information, including the
potential use of polygraphs on defense personnel to determine how
reporters have received information.
Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not immediately respond to
requests for comment on why the defense secretary posted war operational
plans on an unclassified app.
The administration's handling of the highly sensitive information was
swiftly condemned by Democratic lawmakers. Senate Democratic leader
Chuck Schumer called for a full investigation.
“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I
have read about in a very, very long time,” Schumer, a New York
Democrat, said in a floor speech Monday afternoon.
“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of
operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” said Sen. Jack
Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, in a statement.
He said American lives are “on the line. The carelessness shown by
Trump’s Cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers
from the Administration immediately.”
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House
Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was “horrified” by
the reports.
Himes said if a lower-ranking official “did what is described here, they
would likely lose their clearance and be subject to criminal
investigation. The American people deserve answers,” which he said he
planned to get at Wednesday’s previously scheduled committee hearing.
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Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes
overnight in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo)
Some Republicans also expressed concerns.
Sen. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate
Armed Services Committee, told reporters Monday, “We’re very
concerned about it and we’ll be looking into it on a bipartisan
basis.”
Reed said he would be speaking with Wicker about what the committee
will do to “follow up” on the Signal leak.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to learn more about
what happened.
“Obviously, we got to to run it to the ground, figure out what went
on there,” said Thune, a South Dakota Republican.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson offered a notably forgiving
posture.
“I think it would be a terrible mistake for there to be adverse
consequences on any of the people that were involved in that call,"
Johnson said. "They were trying to do a good job, the mission was
accomplished with precision."
There are strict laws around handling defense information
The handling of national defense information is strictly governed by
law under the century-old Espionage Act, including provisions that
make it a crime to remove such information from its “proper place of
custody” even through an act of gross negligence.
The Justice Department in 2015 and 2016 investigated whether former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke the law by communicating
about classified information with her aides on a private email
server she set up, though the FBI ultimately recommended against
charges and none were brought.
In the Biden administration, some officials were given permission to
download Signal on their White House-issued phones, but were
instructed to use the app sparingly, according to a former national
security official who served in the Democratic administration.
The official, who requested anonymity to speak about methods used to
share sensitive information, said Signal was most commonly used to
communicate what they internally referred to as “tippers” to notify
someone when they were away from the office or traveling overseas
that they should check their “high side” inbox for a classified
message.
The app was sometimes also used by officials during the Biden
administration to communicate about scheduling of sensitive meetings
or classified phone calls when they were outside the office, the
official said.
The use of Signal became more prevalent during the last year of the
Biden administration after federal law enforcement officials warned
that China and Iran were hacking the White House as well as
officials in the first Trump administration, according to the
official.
The official was unaware of top Biden administration officials —
such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
and national security adviser Jake Sullivan — using Signal to
discuss sensitive plans as the Trump administration officials did.
Some of the toughest criticism targeted Hegseth, a former Fox News
Channel weekend host. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran,
said on social media that Hegseth, “the most unqualified Secretary
of Defense in history, is demonstrating his incompetence by
literally leaking classified war plans in the group chat.”
Leak reveals internal debate on Houthi operation
Vance in the chain of the messages questioned whether Americans
would understand the importance of strikes that came with the risk
of “a moderate to severe spike in oil prices” and if the timing of
the operation might be a “mistake.”
“I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these
concerns to myself,” Vance argued. “But there is a strong argument
for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this
matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
Vance also made the case that Europe would benefit much more than
the U.S. by the action aimed at decimating the Houthis and securing
Red Sea shipping lanes.
“If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe
out again,” Vance said in a back-and-forth with Hegseth.
“I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s
PATHETIC,” Hegseth replied. He added, “I think we should go.”
The vice president’s communications director, William Martin,
released a statement downplaying the debate. He said Vance
“unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy.”
___
AP writers Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro
contributed reporting.
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