White House ‘Mistakenly’ Texts Top-Secret Yemen War Plans To Journalist

<p>A journalist from The Atlantic was mistakenly added to a group with top officials from the US President Donald Trump-led administration shortly before the US attacked Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.</p>
<p>The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a report on Monday, that he was unexpectedly invited on March 13 to an encrypted chat group the “Houthi PC small group” on the messaging app &ndash; Signal. He received a request from Michael Waltz, Trump&rsquo;s national security adviser but he initially believed it to be someone masquerading as Waltz.</p>
<p>In the group, Waltz tasked his deputy Alex Wong with setting up a “tiger team” to coordinate US action against the Houthis.</p>
<p>Trump launched a series of large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Houthi forces on March 15 in response to their attacks on Red Sea shipping. He also issued a warning to Iran, the Houthis’ primary supporter, demanding an immediate end to its backing of the group.</p>
<p>National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said the chat group appeared to be authentic.</p>
<p>Jeffery Goldberg knew two hours before about the attack because Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted operational details about the plan in the messaging group, “including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing”. The report omitted the details but Goldberg termed it a “shockingly reckless” use of a Signal chat.</p>
<p>Others in the group included, Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and senior National Security Council officials in the group chat, Goldberg wrote. Joe Kent, Trump&rsquo;s nominee for director of the National Counterterrorism Center, was reportedly included in the Signal chain despite not yet receiving Senate confirmation.</p>
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<p>Reacting to this incident, Trump said that he was unaware of the incident. “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic”. A White House official said later that an investigation was underway and Trump had been briefed on it.</p>
<p>National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said the thread seems authentic, &ldquo;we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain&rdquo;.</p>
<p>”The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security.”</p>
<p>Hegseth denied sharing war plans in the group chat.</p>
<p>”Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” he told reported, as per Reuters.</p>
<h3><strong>’Don’t Want To Bail Europe Again'</strong></h3>
<p>According to the screenshots shared by The Atlantic, officials in the group debated whether the US should proceed with the strikes. At one point, Vance appeared to question whether US allies in Europe, who are more vulnerable to shipping disruptions in the region, truly deserved US assistance.</p>
<p>”@PeteHegseth if you think we should do it let’s go,” a person identified as Vance wrote. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” the person wrote, adding: “Let’s just make sure our messaging is tight here.”</p>
<p>A person believed to be Hegseth replied, “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”</p>
<p>&lsquo;Vance&rsquo; also raised concerns about the timing of the strikes, and said there was a strong argument in favour of delaying them by a month.</p>
<p>Under US law, mishandling, misusing, or abusing classified information can constitute a crime, though it remains unclear whether those provisions were breached in this case. The Atlantic’s report also showed that messages allegedly set by Waltz to disappear from the Signal app after a certain period raised concerns about potential violations of federal record-keeping laws.</p>