How the Trump administration accidentally looped in a journalist to top-secret war plans

There has been widespread condemnation of the Donald Trump administration after it emerged a journalist was accidentally added to a Signal group chat in which top-secret military war plans were being discussed.

On Monday (24 March), an explosive article in The Atlantic detailed how the magazine’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, found himself inadvertently added to a group with government officials earlier this month.

In the piece, Goldberg claims that he knew that the US was going to bomb Houthi targets across Yemen two hours before they happened, because Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, allegedly messaged the Signal group the war plan before it took place.

The shocking security breach, during which classified military plans were discussed, has resulted in calls for Trump administration officials to be fired, with some suggesting it may have violated espionage law.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Who added Goldberg to the group?

On Tuesday 11 March, The Atlantic editor Golberg received a connection request on Signal from a user identified as Michael Waltz – the National Security Advisor of the United States.

Initially wary about whether this was, in fact, Waltz, or someone posing as him, Goldberg went along with it.

“I accepted the connection request, hoping that this was the actual national security adviser, and that he wanted to chat about Ukraine, or Iran, or some other important matter,” Golberg wrote.

Two days later on Thursday 13 March, Goldberg was notified that he was being added to a group chat called the “Houthi PC small group”.

Who else was in the group?

In total, 18 individuals were listed as being in the group, with members including National Security Council officials, negotiators and the White House chief of staff.

Notable names are believed to include:

• JD Vance – Vice-president
• Mike Waltz – National Security Advisor
• Marco Antonio Rubio – Secretary of state
• Tulsi Gabbard – Director of national intelligence
• Pete Hegseth – Secretary of defense
• Susie Wiles – White House chief of staff

Goldberg wrote: “I 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.

“I also could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include the editor in chief of The Atlantic in such discussions with senior U.S. officials, up to and including the vice president.”

What was said in the group chat?

The name of an active CIA intelligence officer was published in the group, whose identity Goldberg chose not to disclose.

Elsewhere in the chat, during a discussion on policy, the account labelled JD Vance appeared to deviate from president Trump’s position on the matter of Yemen and plans to bomb Houthi rebel targets.

The account wrote: “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. 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.”

On Saturday 15 March, Goldberg said he received a message and subsequent updates from the account labelled Pete Hegseth, which, “if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel”.

Goldberg continued: “The Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

At the time the message said the detonations were scheduled to take place, Goldberg searched Yemen on social media and the initial reports of explosions were beginning to come through.

“According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. eastern time,” he said.

“At about 1:55, I checked X [Twitter] and searched Yemen. Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa, the capital city.”

Following the reports, various members of the chat described the operation, calling it an “amazing job” and “a good start”.

What happened next?

Goldberg said he subsequently removed himself from the group, though it appeared nobody had even realised he was there in the first place.

“The Signal chat group, I concluded, was almost certainly real. Having come to this realization, one that seemed nearly impossible only hours before, I removed myself from the Signal group, understanding that this would trigger an automatic notification to the group’s creator, ‘Michael Waltz,’ that I had left.

“No one in the chat had seemed to notice that I was there. And I received no subsequent questions about why I left—or, more to the point, who I was.”

The National Security Council confirmed to Goldberg: “This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”

Leon Panetta, who served as the secretary of defense and director of the CIA under Barack Obama, told CNN, “This is just a serious blunder,” adding that it “could violate espionage laws” and “undermine our national security”.

When asked by a reporter on Monday about the breach, president Trump denied all knowledge and claimed it was the first time he had heard about it.

In light of the stunning “Signalgate” news, Hillary Clinton issued a damning 7-word response, meanwhile, the Republicans’ hypocritical Hillary Clinton comments have resurfaced online.

indy100 has approached the White House for comment.

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