The Daily Populous Tuesday March 25th, 2025 night edition
Authored by bbc.com and submitted by SocraticTiger

Top US officials shared Yemen strike plans with journalist in group chat

4 hours ago Share Save Kayla Epstein BBC News Share Save

Getty Images National security adviser Michael Waltz in the Oval Office with President Trump.

The White House has confirmed that a journalist was inadvertently added to an unsecure group chat in which US national security officials planned a military strike in Yemen. The Atlantic magazine's Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he was included on a Signal message group where Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth were apparently among members. He said he saw classified military plans for US strikes on Houthi rebels, including precise details of weapons packages, targets and timing, two hours before the first bombs struck. Goldberg said he was added to the message chain, apparently by accident, after receiving a connection request from someone who appeared to be White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz.

Watch: President Trump says he knows 'nothing' about journalist in Houthi strike group chat

President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday afternoon that he was not aware of the Atlantic article. "The attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz." On 15 March, the US launched what it described as a "decisive and powerful" series of air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. Four days earlier, on 11 March, Atlantic editor-in-chief Goldberg writes that he received the connection request on the encrypted messaging app Signal from an account that purported to be Mr Waltz's. Live updates: Yemen strike plans shared with journalist Signal is used by journalists and Washington officials because of the secure nature of its communications, the ability to create aliases, and to send disappearing messages. Two days later, Goldberg said he was added to a Signal chat entitled "Houthi PC small group." A number of accounts that appeared to belong to cabinet members and national security officials were included in the 18-person chat, Goldberg reported. Accounts labelled "JD Vance", the name of the vice-president; "Pete Hegseth," the defence secretary; and "John Ratcliffe," director of the Central Intelligence Agency; were among names in the chain. Top national security officials from various agencies also appeared in it, including Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. At one point during the communications over the strikes, the account labelled "JD Vance" seemed to disagree with Trump, Goldberg reported. "I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now," the Vance account wrote at approximately 8:15 on 14 March. "There's a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. "I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. "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." In a statement to the BBC on Monday, Vance spokesman William Martin said the vice-president "unequivocally supports this administration's foreign policy. "The president and the vice-president have had subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreement," Martin said. Goldberg writes that he initially "had very strong doubts that this text group was real, because I could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans." The National Security Council did not deny the Atlantic report. Spokesman Brian Hughes told the BBC: "At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic. "We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. "The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy co-ordination between senior officials."

BBC/The Atlantic An excerpt of the Signal group chat with senior US officials that Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, was reportedly added to.

mmmbacon914 on March 24th, 2025 at 20:20 UTC »

The headline really downplays the absolute fuckery of what happened here.

1) Cabinet level, real-time military operational planning was being done on a commercial messaging platform instead of a secure government IS.

2) They fucking didn't notice a private citizen was sitting in the group chat.

This is an absolutely catastrophic failure of information and operational security that puts previous scandals (Hillary emails, even Trump documents) to shame. This is unauthorized disclosure of the most sensitive government information imaginable. All of these people should be fired if not criminally charged.

DarthBluntSaber on March 24th, 2025 at 20:00 UTC »

Not appeared, they DID message a journalist by mistake on their group text chain discussing war plans.

TACNextGen on March 24th, 2025 at 19:58 UTC »

> Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, reported on Monday that he was added to a Signal message group which included accounts labelled as White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Vice-President JD Vance.

Why are updates on military operations being communicated over Signal rather than secure DoD communications?

Edit: Anyone who remotely (and rightfully) criticized Hillary Clinton for using her own Email server should be furious about this news story.