The Daily Populous Wednesday March 26th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by cnn.com and submitted by Narwal10444

The information Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed in the Signal chat of top Trump national security officials was highly classified at the time he wrote it, especially because the operation had not even started yet, according to a US defense official familiar with the operation and another source who was briefed on it afterward.

The updates Hegseth was giving in the Signal chat were the kind of real-time play-by-play that a commander would be giving to the president in a highly classified setting as the operation unfolded.

“These are operational plans that are highly classified in order to protect the servicemembers,” the defense official said.

The Atlantic on Wednesday published additional text messages from the Signal group chat, underscoring a massive breach in operational security as specific sensitive information about the Houthi attack was shared in the chat before it was carried out.

President Donald Trump and his team have repeatedly sought to downplay the sensitivity of the information shared in the Signal group in the aftermath of The Atlantic’s bombshell story on Monday. While they denied there was a “war plan” shared, the text messages published Wednesday offer an extremely detailed description of the coming strike, including the airplanes and drones used.

“It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court martialed for this,” the defense official added. “We don’t provide that level of information on unclassified systems, in order to protect the lives and safety of the servicemembers carrying out these strikes. If we did, it would be wholly irresponsible. My most junior analysts know not to do this.”

The messages also rebut the claim from Hegseth and other Trump administration officials that war plans were not discussed on the chain. In a message sent at 11:44 a.m. ET and published by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris, Hegseth shares operational details about the strikes: “Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch,” Hegseth wrote.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker said on Wednesday that he and the top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Jack Reed, are formally asking the administration for an Inspector General report on the Signal chat for the committee to review and a classified briefing from a senior official.

Top US officials have said the information shared in the text messages was not classified.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who was one of the participants in the group chat, acknowledged on Tuesday that “pre-decisional strike deliberation should be conducted through classified channels.”

The Pentagon’s chief spokesman Sean Parnell acknowledged on Wednesday that Hegseth shared information on the US military’s strikes on Yemen while the operation was underway.

“These additional Signal chat messages confirm there were no classified materials or war plans shared. The Secretary was merely updating the group on a plan that was underway and had already been briefed through official channels. The American people see through the Atlantic’s pathetic attempts to distract from President Trump’s national security agenda,” Parnell said in a statement.

Hegseth goes on to share the plans in extraordinary detail, according to The Atlantic:

1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”

“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”

“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”

“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)”

“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”

That information, according to The Atlantic, was received “two hours before the scheduled start of the bombing of Houthi positions.”

“If this information — particularly the exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen — had fallen into the wrong hands in that crucial two-hour period, American pilots and other American personnel could have been exposed to even greater danger than they ordinarily would face,” Goldberg and Harris wrote.

National security adviser Mike Waltz later texted to confirm that the target was in a building that collapsed and the strike was successful.

“The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed,” Waltz wrote at 2 p.m. ET.

And later in the day, Hegseth confirmed to the group that more strikes were coming.

“Great job all. More strikes ongoing for hours tonight, and will provide full initial report tomorrow. But on time, on target, and good readouts so far,” he said.

The release of the messages appeared to undercut Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s testimony on Tuesday, where she said it was to her knowledge that weapons packages, targets and timing weren’t part of the conversations in the Signal chat.

Gabbard on Wednesday doubled down on the administration’s insistence that no classified information was shared in the now-infamous chat.

“The conversation was candid and sensitive, but as the president, National Security Advisor stated, no classified information was shared,” Gabbard told the House Intelligence Committee. “There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared. This was a standard update to the national security cabinet that was provided alongside updates that were given to foreign partners in the region.”

She also said Hegseth was ultimately responsible for deciding what in that conversation should or should not have been classified: “Ultimately, the Secretary of Defense holds the authority to classify or declassify.”

Goldberg said on Wednesday the magazine decided to redact a sensitive piece of information out of their follow-up article.

“We did redact one piece of information because we felt, on our own, that we felt it was best to do. And the CIA asked us, but, you know, at a certain point, the administration is saying that there’s nothing classified or secret or sensitive in these so at a certain point, I just felt, you know, let our readers decide for themselves,” he said on MSNBC of the decision to publish the rest of the information.

Moments after The Atlantic published the text messages, the White House continued to push back and seek to discredit Goldberg’s reporting, though the National Security Council has verified the authenticity of the text thread.

“The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans.’ This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post to social media.

Leavitt is also pushing back against concerns that Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy for the Middle East, who was on the group chat, was receiving the texts while in Moscow. Witkoff, she said, “was provided a secure line of communication by the U.S. Government, and it was the only phone he had in his possession while in Moscow,” going on to shift blame to the media.

Goldberg criticized Leavitt’s response to the news during his MSNBC appearance and said “she’s just playing some sort of weird semantic game.”

CNN’s military analyst retired Col. Cedric Leighton said the details have “all the elements of a war plan, and what that means is, all of these elements mean that this stuff is classified. Full stop. There is no question this is classified.”

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

PepperMill_NA on March 26th, 2025 at 13:51 UTC »

Looks like there was one responsible adult in this mess.

> “We did redact one piece of information because we felt, on our own, that we felt it was best to do. And the CIA asked us, but, you know, at a certain point, the administration is saying that there’s nothing classified or secret or sensitive in these so at a certain point, I just felt, you know, let our readers decide for themselves,”

-- Jeffrey Goldberg

> “Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch,” Hegseth wrote.

> This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said

> “You’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again,” Hegseth said.

> Britt Hume was quick to point out the glaring flaw in Hegseth’s excuse: It wasn’t a hoax, as the National Security Council confirmed that the messages accidentally sent to Goldberg were legit:

dope_sheet on March 26th, 2025 at 13:43 UTC »

The Trump admin trying to downplay this is the most pathetic thing they've done in months. 'only the best people'. All Trump supporters are rubes.

Procure on March 26th, 2025 at 13:38 UTC »

So we already knew every single turd in the committee hearings yesterday straight-up lied, prompting The Atlantic to post the rest of the transcripts.

Please, Senate Intelligence Committee, lay it on them THICK today.