'Shocking recklessness': Trump’s defense department accidentally texted war plans to reporter

24 March

On Saturday, March 15, President Donald Trump announced military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The news broke in the afternoon, but The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg found out about the operation before other journalists. And he explains how he found out in an article published on March 24.

Goldberg explains, "I ….. knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing."

The journalist notes that on March 11 — four days before the operation was announced — he "received a connection request" on the messaging app Signal ;from a user identified as Michael Waltz' and assumed he was Trump's national security adviser." And on March 15, things "became truly bizarre."

"At 11:44 a.m., the account labeled 'Pete Hegseth' posted in Signal a 'TEAM UPDATE,'" Goldberg explains. "I will not quote from this update, or from certain other subsequent texts. The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that 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…. According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. eastern time."

On Sunday, March 16, Goldberg remembers, he "concluded" that the "Signal chat group…. was almost certainly real." And on March 24, Goldberg reports, he heard from National Security Council (NSC) spokesman Brian Hughes — who was "confirming the veracity of the Signal group."

Hughes wrote, "This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. 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 troops or national security."

Goldberg comments, "I have never seen a breach quite like this. It is not uncommon for national-security officials to communicate on Signal. But the app is used primarily for meeting planning and other logistical matters — not for detailed and highly confidential discussions of a pending military action. And, of course, I’ve never heard of an instance in which a journalist has been invited to such a discussion."

Goldberg's article is receiving plenty of attention on X, formerly Twitter.

The New Yorker's Jane Mayer posted, "OMG- this story! Hegseth Reckless beyond belief! The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans."

NBC News' Garrett Haake tweeted, "This story almost seems too wild to be real, but no one involved is disputing it..."

Jeffrey Goldberg's full article for the Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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