White House mistakenly shares Yemen war plans with journalist

WASHINGTON - A US journalist was inadvertently included in a group chat in which Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice-President J.D. Vance and other top American officials discussed upcoming strikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the White House confirmed on March 24.

US President Donald Trump

announced the strikes on March 15

, but in a shocking security breach, The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that he had hours of advance notice via the group chat on Signal.

“The message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.

It was an extraordinary breach of US national security intelligence, said The New York Times. Not only was the journalist inadvertently included in the group, but the conversation also took place outside the secure government channels that would normally be used for classified and highly sensitive war planning.

Mr Trump meanwhile told journalists: “I don’t know anything about it. You’re telling me about it for the first time.” He added that “the attack was very effective” in any case.

The White House said the President “continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team”.

Accounts that appeared to represent Mr Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Central Intelligence Agency director John Ratcliffe, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and senior National Security Council officials were assembled in the chat group, Mr Goldberg wrote.

Mr Joe Kent, Mr Trump’s nominee for National Counterterrorism Centre director, was apparently on the Signal chain despite not being confirmed by the Senate yet.

The leak could have been highly damaging if Mr Goldberg had publicised details of the plan in advance, but he did not do so even after the fact.

He did however write that Mr Hegseth sent information on the strikes, including on “targets, weapons the US would be deploying and attack sequencing”, to the group chat.

“According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1.45pm Eastern time,” Mr Goldberg wrote – a timeline that was borne out on the ground in Yemen.

Mr Goldberg said he was added to the group chat two days earlier and received messages from other top government officials designating representatives who would work on the issue. His published report omitted the details of the chat, but he termed it a “shockingly reckless” use of Signal chat.

Mr Hegseth later denied sharing war plans in the group chat.

“Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” he told reporters while on an official trip to Hawaii on March 24.

Mr Goldberg responded to Mr Hegseth’s denial in an interview on CNN late on March 24 by saying: “No, that’s a lie. He was texting war plans.”

‘European freeloading’

On March 14, a person identified as Mr Vance expressed doubts about carrying out the strikes, saying he hated “bailing Europe out again,” as countries there were more affected by

Houthi attacks on shipping

than the US.

Group chat contributors identified as National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Mr Hegseth both sent messages arguing only Washington had the capability to carry out the mission, with the latter official noting that he shared Mr Vance’s “loathing of European freeloading. It’s PATHETIC”.

The Atlantic reported that the person identified as Mr Vance also raised concerns about the timing of the strikes and said there was a strong argument in favour of delaying them by a month.

“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,” the person wrote, before saying he was willing to support the group’s consensus.

And a person identified as “S M” – possibly Mr Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller – argued that “if the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost, there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return”.

Created by the entrepreneur Moxie Marlinspike, Signal has gone from an exotic messaging app used by privacy-conscious dissidents to the unofficial whisper network of Washington officialdom.

‘Stunning and dangerous’

Several Defence Department officials expressed shock that Mr Hegseth had put US war plans into a commercial chat group. They said having this type of conversation in Signal itself could be a violation of the Espionage Act, a law covering the handling of sensitive information.

Revealing operational war plans before planned strikes could also put US troops directly in harm’s way, the officials added. And former Federal Bureau of Investigation officials who worked on leak cases described this as a devastating breach of national security. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive national security matter.

Former national security officials said if personal cellphones were used in the group chat, the behaviour would be even more egregious because of ongoing Chinese hacking efforts.

Republican senators faced a barrage of questions. Many said they were concerned, but most were withholding judgment until they could receive a full briefing.

“It appears that mistakes were made, no question,” said Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Armed Services Committee. “We’ll try to get to ground truth and take appropriate action.”

However, Democratic lawmakers called the use of the Signal group illegal and demanded an investigation.

“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence that I have read about in a very, very long time,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, adding that he would ask Senate Majority Leader John Thune to investigate.

“We’re just finding out about it. But obviously, we’ve got to run it to ground and figure out what went on there. We’ll have a plan,” Mr Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on X that the use of Signal to discuss highly sensitive national security issues was “blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief”.

“Every single one of the government officials on this text chain have now committed a crime – even if accidentally – that would normally involve a jail sentence,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons said on X.

Senator Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, also slammed the leak, saying: “The carelessness shown by President Trump’s Cabinet is stunning and dangerous.”

During his first term, Mr Trump repeatedly said Mrs Hillary Clinton should have been imprisoned for using a private e-mail server to communicate with her staff and others while she was secretary of state.

Mr Waltz, for his part, posted on social media in June 2023: “Biden’s sitting National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan sent Top Secret messages to Hillary Clinton’s private account. And what did DOJ do about it? Not a damn thing.”

Under US law, it can be a crime to mishandle, misuse or abuse classified information, though it is unclear whether those provisions might have been breached in this case. Messages that The Atlantic report said were set by Mr Waltz to disappear from the Signal app after a period of time also raise questions about possible violations of federal record-keeping laws.

As part of a Trump administration effort to chase down leaks by officials to journalists unrelated to the Signal group, Ms Gabbard posted on X on March 14 that any “unauthorised release of classified information is a violation of the law and will be treated as such”.

She is due to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on worldwide threats to the US on March 25.

Houthi attacks

The Houthi rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the US.

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, saying the strikes were carried out in solidarity with Palestinians.

The Houthis’ campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 per cent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.

The US began targeting the Houthis in response under the previous administration of president Joe Biden and has launched repeated rounds of strikes on Houthi targets, some with British support.

Mr Trump has vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Houthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping, and US strikes have continued over the past 10 days. AFP, REUTERS, NYTIMES