US military strike details leaked in Signal chat with journalist

Trump officials texted war plans to a group chat in a secure app that included a journalist

My lead source tonight is the reporter at the center of this story, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, and it's great to have you here tonight. I want to start by getting your reaction to what we heard from Secretary Hagset there saying that nobody was texting war plans given you were privy to this group chat. Is that how you saw it? No, that's *** 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. 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, but no, they were, they were plans for the attack. They were texted before the attack and there were things texted that you viewed as so sensitive you did not even publish them in your report today. I made the decision that this the technical aspects of this, including what kinds of weapons packages, the attack sequencing, and so on, that's not necessarily in the public interest. What's in the public interest is that they were running ***, ***, *** war plan on *** messaging app, um, and didn't even know who was invited into the conversation. I mean, it's an obvious ridiculous security breach and you know, he, he, if you notice, he didn't actually answer the question. But his attempt at *** denial also stood out to me because no one that I talked to at the White House today argued this or tried to say. These were, you know, misconstrued or altered or this is not real. I mean, the National Security Council confirmed the veracity of the National Security Council. I asked various officials, including PTEit this morning for comment, and the first question I had for everyone is this real? I wanted to make sure, obviously before we go public and say, are you sure that this is not *** disinformation. Campaign run by *** foreign state, *** non-state actor of some sort, trying to target *** journalist for reasons I couldn't explain, and no, no, this is, this is apparently *** real channel, and I appreciate them telling the truth about that and we published. Did they seem alarmed when you reached out for comment? Probably not the happiest day that they experienced in the White House so far, but they were professional about it. I thought that as you were kind of walking through when this began, you weren't even sure if it was real yourself. You thought maybe I'm being spun or conned or or something's happening here until, until the day that I received the attack plan from Pete Hegseth at 11:44 a.m. that Saturday, March 15th, and then saw the attack plan said that 13:45, 1:45 p.m. Eastern time that the first bombs would be dropping in Yemen, uh. Until that moment, until that period elapsed, the two hour period between that text and the first bombs being dropped, I thought it was *** hoax. I thought somebody was trying to entrap me, uh, again, could it have been *** foreign intelligence service? Could it have been *** gadfly organization that tries to entrap journalists, which we know happens, I didn't know what it was or or who it was, but what I did know was that the. The obvious answer was that this is *** real conversation of the national security leadership of the United States seemed improbable to me because why would they do it on signal? Why would they do this on *** messaging app and why would they invite the editor in chief of The Atlantic to watch? And how many people were on this chat? 18. And did any of them at any point when you were included in here ever raise that question Why are we talking about this over *** signal? No. Nobody, nobody raised the question, why are we talking about this over signal, um, and nobody said, hey, who is JG, you know, because you show up in *** little bubble as your initials and, and, and no one at any point said, Who's JG? And when I withdrew from the group, you formally remove yourself you hit *** button, um, it says JG has removed himself from the group. I assumed that somebody would say, hey, who, who just removed himself from the group? Nothing. You didn't hear from Mike Waltz or anyone else after that? No, no, nothing at all. I mean, it's, it's, um, *** level of in curiosity. Uh, I guess that's the polite way of saying it. It's *** level of recklessness that I have not seen in many years of reporting on national security issues. And so you eventually remove yourself from the chat once I was sure that it was real, but after you've seen everything, I mean, you published these I don't know what I haven't seen since then, but yes, I removed myself and I started writing the story. That's in order to expose the security breach and some White House reporters today were saying maybe I would have never removed myself from that. You know, these are, these are tough, these are tough questions, um, but, and I, I can't go into it, all, all the decision making involved in this, but, um, I found out what I needed to find out. *** that it was real and B that it did represent the kind of gap, the Mack truck sized gap in their security that I could never have imagined *** White House experiencing. I mean, because you're *** reporter and probably *** worst nightmare to have someone included on *** chat, but. *** foreign adversary or someone who who wanted to do real harm to the United States, I think that's the concern that is so obvious. Look, I say this only half jokingly. I mean, I'm sitting in *** Safeway parking lot watching my phone and realizing, oh my God, this might be real. I think Pete Hegseth just sent this group, um, actual targeting. Information, actual sequencing of an attack, um, and I'm holding on to the phone. I don't want anybody to, and then I thought to myself, well, I mean, I guess they're lucky they didn't send this to *** Houthi. By mistake or to *** foreign diplomat or to somebody who plausibly be in one of their phones, um, I, I, I guess that counts as *** kind of luck that's why they don't, that's why they're not supposed to use open source privately owned messaging services they're supposed to keep all those conversations on what they call the high side that's the, the classified side, but only government officials who are cleared to talk about this stuff get to talk about it. That's why they have that.

Trump officials texted war plans to a group chat in a secure app that included a journalist

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.”Video above: Journalist who was in Signal group chat talks about leaks in interviewTrump 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 matterThe 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.Video below: Hegseth responds to report about war plan leaks to journalist in group chatReaction poured in quicklyThe 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.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 informationThe 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 operationVance 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 communication’s director, William Martin, in a statement downplayed the debate. He said Vance “unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy.”___AP writers Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.

WASHINGTON —

Video above: Journalist who was in Signal group chat talks about leaks in interview

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.

Video below: Hegseth responds to report about war plan leaks to journalist in group chat

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.

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 communication’s director, William Martin, in a statement downplayed the debate. He said Vance “unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy.��

___

AP writers Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.

��������

Trump officials texted war plans to a group chat in a secure app that included a journalist

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The National Security Council is looking into the matter

Reaction poured in quickly

There are strict laws around handling defense information

Leak reveals internal debate on Houthi operation

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