NOT A JOKE.
From the Senior Editor of The Atlantic Monthly.
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
By Jeffrey Goldberg
The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.
I, however, 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.
This is going to require some explaining.
The story technically begins shortly after the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, in October 2023. The Houthis—an Iran-backed terrorist organization whose motto is “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam”—soon launched attacks on Israel and on international shipping, creating havoc for global trade. Throughout 2024, the Biden administration was ineffective in countering these Houthi attacks; the incoming Trump administration promised a tougher response.
This is where Pete Hegseth and I come in.
On Tuesday, March 11, I received a connection request on Signal from a user identified as Michael Waltz. Signal is an open-source encrypted messaging service popular with journalists and others who seek more privacy than other text-messaging services are capable of delivering. I assumed that the Michael Waltz in question was President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. I did not assume, however, that the request was from the actual Michael Waltz. I have met him in the past, and though I didn’t find it particularly strange that he might be reaching out to me, I did think it somewhat unusual, given the Trump administration’s contentious relationship with journalists—and Trump’s periodic fixation on me specifically. It immediately crossed my mind that someone could be masquerading as Waltz in order to somehow entrap me. It is not at all uncommon these days for nefarious actors to try to induce journalists to share information that could be used against them.
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.
Two days later—Thursday—at 4:28 p.m., I received a notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group. It was called the “Houthi PC small group.”
A message to the group, from “Michael Waltz,” read as follows: “Team – establishing a principles [sic] group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.”
The message continued, “Pls provide the best staff POC from your team for us to coordinate with over the next couple days and over the weekend. Thx.”
The term principals committee generally refers to a group of the senior-most national-security officials, including the secretaries of defense, state, and the treasury, as well as the director of the CIA. It should go without saying—but I’ll say it anyway—that I have never been invited to a White House principals-committee meeting, and that, in my many years of reporting on national-security matters, I had never heard of one being convened over a commercial messaging app.
One minute later, a person identified only as “MAR”—the secretary of state is Marco Antonio Rubio—wrote, “Mike Needham for State,” apparently designating the current counselor of the State Department as his representative. At that same moment, a Signal user identified as “JD Vance” wrote, “Andy baker for VP.” One minute after that, “TG” (presumably Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, or someone masquerading as her) wrote, “Joe Kent for DNI.” Nine minutes later, “Scott B”—apparently Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, or someone spoofing his identity, wrote, “Dan Katz for Treasury.” At 4:53 p.m., a user called “Pete Hegseth” wrote, “Dan Caldwell for DoD.” And at 6:34 p.m., “Brian” wrote “Brian McCormack for NSC.” One more person responded: “John Ratcliffe” wrote at 5:24 p.m. with the name of a CIA official to be included in the group. I am not publishing that name, because that person is an active intelligence officer.
The principals had apparently assembled. In all, 18 individuals were listed as members of this group, including various National Security Council officials; Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East and Ukraine negotiator; Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; and someone identified only as “S M,” which I took to stand for Stephen Miller. I appeared on my own screen only as “JG.”
That was the end of the Thursday text chain.
After receiving the Waltz text related to the “Houthi PC small group,” I consulted a number of colleagues. We discussed the possibility that these texts were part of a disinformation campaign, initiated by either a foreign intelligence service or, more likely, a media-gadfly organization, the sort of group that attempts to place journalists in embarrassing positions, and sometimes succeeds. 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.The next day, things got even stranger.
Read the rest of it at the link above.
This is a breach of NATIONAL SECURITY.
They were texting CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.
If it had been ANYONE ELSE…They would already be in HANDCUFFS.
The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) posted at 7:38 AM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
Breaking: Read the Signal messages. https://t.co/IKBYmBoQyh
(https://x.com/TheAtlantic/status/1904875718539903000?t=aYizniGF56tndoUvbiI7IQ&s=03)
Sabrina Singh (@sabrinasingh24) posted at 7:42 AM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
Pete Hegseth put the sequencing of the entire operation & types of aircraft that would be used to conduct these strikes all before the operation took place. He put the lives of our fighter pilots at risk.Details like this are classified. I am absolutely floored. https://t.co/Wvm1ncrwSo
(https://x.com/sabrinasingh24/status/1904876585401930182?t=89pYuAPbBgu44NRHZgk56Q&s=03)
MORE
Fred Wellman
@FPWellman
BREAKING NEWS: A high level source at the DOD has informed me that the Trump Administration authorized deployment of Signal onto government phones last month and it is a primary means of communicating with the White House. Read my exclusive story (1/2)Fred Wellman
@FPWellman
Katie Arrington the newly installed Deputy Chief Information Officer for Cybersecurity and Chief Information Security Officer at the Department of Defense issued a waiver to install Signal on DoD phones last month. (2/2)
https://x.com/FPWellman/status/1904945988013285852
SECURITY BREACHES EVERYWHERE!!!
BWA HA HA AH AH AH AH AH AH AH
Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) posted at 1:14 PM on Thu, Mar 27, 2025:
Elise Stefanik gave up her House leadership position for nothing.
Thoughts and prayers.
(https://x.com/leftcoastbabe/status/1905322481029972132?t=s_Od16hQPP-wEcdTVtQHqw&s=03)
Candidly Tiff (@tify330) posted at 8:35 AM on Thu, Mar 27, 2025:
Not gonna lie I miss Kamala Harris. I know she is resting, as she should be, but her joy and kindness are unmatched.
Don’t even want her to comeback to be in a political way. I wanna hear about what she has been cooking, reading and doing to keep herself busy.
(https://x.com/tify330/status/1905252256091451903?t=8dtEAXzH5UNvs30Fk8r3-A&s=03)
NB NOLA (@psddluva4evah) posted at 10:25 PM on Thu, Mar 27, 2025:
Because of course he’s targeting the African American History Museum.!
Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding for programs with ‘improper ideology’ https://t.co/D9JwJawIdb
(https://x.com/psddluva4evah/status/1905461209224413198?t=q1arDNFg4SEnzkDOop1YxQ&s=03)
THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS
Sir William Browder KCMG (@Billbrowder) posted at 2:27 PM on Thu, Mar 27, 2025:
BREAKING: A Russian scientist who opposed Putin’s war, fled Russia & found work at Harvard was detained at Logan Airport returning from a French academic conference and has been sent to an immigration detention center in Louisiana for deportation to Russia https://t.co/tHRM015aMP
(https://x.com/Billbrowder/status/1905340984801853675?t=XtxP8AeOc3DbdmbVrVaFpQ&s=03)
Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) posted at 7:38 PM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
The administration’s response to the Signal debacle is just suffused with contempt for their own voters. Just an endless belief that the people who support them can be tricked into believing the laziest misdirection imaginable.
(https://x.com/ezraklein/status/1905056900368207969?t=h-OXDWJ372T1WgzpXhfftw&s=03)
Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) posted at 5:30 AM on Fri, Mar 28, 2025:
Betty White is making her mark on the nation’s snail mail.
The Oak Park native and beloved actor of “The Golden Girls” fame was celebrated with a new U.S. Postal Service stamp at a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Los Angeles Zoo on Thursday.
https://t.co/4WE2BhNs8R
(https://x.com/chicagotribune/status/1905568063258239453?t=c04vhe2qj0CA-y797LmxiA&s=03)
U.S. Naval Academy ends affirmative action in admissions
Ellie Wolfe and Sapna Bansil
3/28/2025 3:51 p.m. EDT
Despite a federal ruling in its favor, the academy will no longer consider race in admissions.
The U.S. Naval Academy will no longer consider race, ethnicity or sex as a factor in its admissions process, according to new court filings.
The move to end affirmative action at the Naval Academy comes despite a federal judge ruling last year that the practice was constitutional. Directives from the administration of President Donald Trump prompted the academy to reverse course, according to a court motion filed on Friday.
Trump in January issued an executive order noting that the armed forces, including military academies, should “operate free from any preference based on race or sex.” Days later, a memorandum from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth prohibited any Department of Defense component from establishing “sex-based, race-based or ethnicity-based goals for organization composition, academic admission or career fields.”
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/higher-education/naval-academy-affirmative-action-I2J5BASQ7JDG3CJIX3RON3VLJ4/?schk=NO&rchk=YES&utm_source=The+Baltimore+Banner&utm_campaign=12471a45de-NL_ALRT_20250328_1602&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fed75856d2-12471a45de-617409210&mc_cid=12471a45de&mc_eid=56348d263d
Liberalibrarian
@Liberalibrarian
Not productive? Not Productive? I’m sorry, did I hear that correctly? So we fucking sold them to fucking El Salvador? The armpit of Latin America? Marco Rubio, a Cuban man, has turned into Chairman Mao. #Impeach this little fascist.
https://x.com/Liberalibrarian/status/1905650600051966116
Tesla Is Allegedly Withholding Wages Of German Employees On Sick Leave
By
Brett T. Evans
Amid a streak of absenteeism at its Grünheide, Brandenburg, factory in Germany, Tesla has reportedly withheld pay from its employees on medical leave. As reported by German newspaper Handelsblatt, the automaker sent mass letters to employees who have called in sick, which expressed doubts as to the veracity of their claims of illness or injury. Not only that, but Tesla also asked said employees to divulge their diagnoses and release their doctors from their “duty of confidentiality.” The Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory produces the company’s battery cells, as well as the Tesla Model Y.
https://carbuzz.com/tesla-allegedly-withholding-wages-german-sick-leave/
Brian Allen
@allenanalysis
BREAKING: U.S. Vice President JD Vance just CANCELED all public events in Greenland. Gone from the schedule: – Nuuk visit – Sisimiut stop – Even the dogsled championship Only thing left? A quiet visit to Pituffik Space Base on Friday. No photo ops. No crowds. No explanation. Source: Sermitsiaq (Greenland)
7:26 AM · Mar 26, 2025
·
1.3M
Views
WGN TV News (@WGNNews) posted at 5:48 PM on Tue, Mar 25, 2025:
A federal judge Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from deporting a Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the school.
https://t.co/xheRzVw3dg
(https://x.com/WGNNews/status/1904666605704925262?t=J88EIWcDikARaVIpA8mcKg&s=03)
Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) posted at 5:47 PM on Tue, Mar 25, 2025:
Illinois is the nation’s number one soybean producing state — it’s what made us the perfect home for the Soybean Innovation Lab.
Thanks to Donald Trump, the lab will close on April 15.
Innovation lost, jobs lost, and education lost. https://t.co/FohcwiArz6
(https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/1904666415489053114?t=slyo7NVHaLsue-rQz_Sxgw&s=03)
Scott Trubey (@FitzTrubey) posted at 5:35 AM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
“It’s insanity. You’re using the same app your teenagers use to get away with bad stuff,” one retired Navy commander told @MurphyAJC. “I and any other uniformed military officer would be going to Fort Leavenworth.” https://t.co/rDMklHBTgE
(https://x.com/FitzTrubey/status/1904844555007959050?s=02)
Michael Lin, MD PhD 🧬 (@michaelzlin) posted at 5:05 PM on Tue, Mar 25, 2025:
Our NIH grant to discover coronavirus antiviral meds was terminated today.
With this grant, we had developed a better SARSCoV2 inhibitor than Paxlovid, and we recently discovered an improved drug that looks better than Pfizer’s own second-generation inhibitor. https://t.co/kzo8OmdF3k
(https://x.com/michaelzlin/status/1904656008787763579?s=02)
Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) posted at 7:55 AM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
🚨 JUST IN: The Atlantic just dropped another batch of leaked Cabinet group chat messages—and get this, their editor-in-chief was accidentally added to the thread.
Now CNN’s scrambling to review the report.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials are headed back to Capitol Hill today… and let’s just say, the questions aren’t going to get softer.
This administration keeps texting like no one’s watching. Spoiler: everyone is.
More soon.https://t.co/KknuQlIFLb
(https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/1904879855327412330?t=MrvhcuXBfkggCYecpRVm5w&s=03)
nxthompson (@nxthompson) posted at 7:26 AM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
Numerous administration officials have asserted that @TheAtlantic is lying about the content of the texts. Now you can see for yourself and judge. https://t.co/JowyFqvDlI
(https://x.com/nxthompson/status/1904872644262191173?t=gfbU9NlYMTmEmrWLSoBhcg&s=03)
R. Saoirse (@razzli_) posted at 11:39 AM on Tue, Mar 25, 2025:
MAGA for years:
“Sleepy Joe”
“Joe and the Hoe gotta go”
“Kamala Harris slept her way up to the top”
“Michelle Obama is man”
“Fuck your feelings, libtards”
“Let’s go Brandon”
Jasmine Crockett: “Governor Hot Wheels”
MAGA: “HOW DARE YOU!!!”
(https://x.com/razzli_/status/1904573771073151117?t=W1sDlJv5E8bj3P3ZurDCMw&s=03)
𝔅𝔬𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔞𝔫 𝔓𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔰𝔰 𝔢𝔯𝔞 ❦ ♛ © (@Blkgrlsupremacy) posted at 2:12 AM on Thu, Aug 10, 2023:
Or that the obsession Hollywood has with mixed girls over monoracial lsbw is actually featurism, we’ll be gaslighted and told these lsbw are not even light skin.
(https://x.com/Blkgrlsupremacy/status/1689535246469844992?t=kMIsi8Z25rJbPpOl7AwS7A&s=03)
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) posted at 10:44 AM on Tue, Mar 25, 2025:
my goodness you can see Tulsi Gabbard trying to come up with evasive answers to Kelly’s questions in real time https://t.co/6PG2V9AFKG
(https://x.com/atrupar/status/1904560131934744652?t=-zinpNHbd6-SY6uT-gXPrQ&s=03)
The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) posted at 11:14 AM on Tue, Mar 25, 2025:
“Since you came back into the White House, do you use Signal or any other encrypted apps to communicate with Administration officials?”
Tom Homan: “I have no comment on that.” @HowardMortman
https://t.co/RCdLZENLPu
(https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1904567525364371694?t=cUwD0kUVkBPXpGLWRPX-YA&s=03)
Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) posted at 8:18 AM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
I just read the entirety of the war plans that were discussed on signal. It’s clear that this was a massive breach of our national security. Had this very specific plan gotten in the wrong hands, Americans would be dead right now.
Waltz and Hegseth must be fired immediately.
(https://x.com/MaxwellFrostFL/status/1904885779534340168?t=WF2mYP44-JOrr92g2lA2OA&s=03)
Randi White (@RandiWhite) posted at 6:46 AM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
SAME to VP Harris when she was running and told the truth about this Great Value version of Natasha Fatale.
The two women who were right about EVERYTHING Would have made this country INFINITELY better for everyone except the people who only want things to be great for themselves
(https://x.com/RandiWhite/status/1904862398772543542?t=pLuHlK9BVubsVO76TeE_yw&s=03)
PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) posted at 8:18 AM on Wed, Mar 26, 2025:
According to Michael Walz, Trump wanted to pass the cost of reopening the shipping lanes onto Europe. https://t.co/SLty2zlqOo
(https://x.com/patriottakes/status/1904885723804639735?t=oieu5NQiUrTodopRSSGMoQ&s=03)
From NASA AND IBM to cattle rancher
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP82s9KdK/
It hit me this morning. Thanks to the Editor at The Atlantic. We found out about this breach of National Security in pretty much real time. If this had been one of those muthaphuckas from the NYT, they would have held onto this to tell us in a couple of years in a phucking book.😠😠😠
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊