At noon on Monday, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, published an article about top members of the administration of Republican President Donald Trump discussing national security and military actions on Signal—a free, open-source messaging app.
How did Goldberg know about this serious national security violation?
As reported by The Atlantic:
"The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen."
"I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the [Secretary of Defense], had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m."
"The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing."
By Monday evening, the news media—and social media—was awash with commentary about security protocols and incompetence in the Trump administration.
Hegseth was asked, by the press gaggle that greeted his plane in Hawaii on Monday afternoon, to comment on his actions as detailed in The Atlantic article "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans."
Hegseth claimed:
"Nobody was texting war plans."
@jackthny/X
Trump's current White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, took to social media to spin more tales to deflect from the truth about 11 members of Trump's team using a commercial group chat app instead of the secure communications technology available to them that is required by regulation and law.
Leavitt posted a long message on X, claiming:
"Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story:"
"1. No 'war plans' were discussed.
2. No classified material was sent to the thread.
3. The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible."
"As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread."
"Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump."
@PressSec/X
Leavitt's post received pushback.
@BonkDaCarnivore/X
Meanwhile, Trump himself claimed to have no idea what was going on.
Which might be the only truthful Trump administration response to his team's latest national security faux pas.
But Goldberg wouldn't let the Trump administration's lies go unchallenged.
In a Monday evening appearance on CNN, host Kaitlan Collins asked Goldberg about Hegseth's denials about the content of the unsecured Signal messages received from the Trump administration group chat. Collins shared that Hegseth said there were "no war plans" texted.
The Atlantic editor responded:
"No, that's a lie."
"He was texting war plans. He was texting attack plans, when targets were going to be targeted, how they were going to be targeted, who was at the targets, when the next sequence of attacks were happening?"
Goldberg shared that he kept the most damaging content out of the article for national security reasons.
"I didn't publish this. And I continue not to publish it because it felt like it was too confidential, too technical. And I worry, honestly, that sharing that kind of information in public could endanger American military personnel."
Goldberg concluded his rebuttal of Hegseth's excuse, stating:
"But no, they were-they were plans for the attack. They were texted before the attack."
You can watch Goldberg's comments on Hegseth's denials in this clip shared by CNN's Collins:
You can watch the full 10-minute CNN interview with Goldberg here:
- YouTubeyoutu.be
The Signal group chat's existence—and message thread content—was confirmed by National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes on Monday, despite Hegseth's and Leavitt's statements to the contrary.
A total of 11 members of the Trump administration participated in the unsecured group chat:
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
- Vice President JD Vance
- National Security Advisor Michael Waltz
- CIA Director John Ratcliffe
- Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
- White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles
- "MAR," who Goldberg wrote is likely to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio
- "SM," who Goldberg wrote is likely to be Stephen Miller
- Joe Kent, Trump's nominee to lead the National Counterterrorism Center
- U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Calls for Hegseth and others to resign began almost immediately after their violation of well-established security protocols was revealed.
But this isn't the first time a Trump official ignored national security protocols.
In 2019 during Trump's first term in office, White House Senior Advisor—and son-in-law—Jared Kushner was cited by cybersecurity and national security experts for using WhatsApp to communicate with foreign government officials, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Now six years later, different app but same old carelessness.
