Trump Cabinet messaging breach confirms fears of European allies

WASHINGTON – The exposure of private texts between top US officials offered unique insight into their planning for strikes against Houthi militants earlier in March. The messages also laid bare the full extent of their disdain for European allies.

A back and forth between US Vice-President J.D. Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, exposed as part of an Atlantic magazine story on the texts on March 24, highlighted how they believe their European allies were “free-loading” off US efforts to go after Houthi militants in Yemen.

“I just hate bailing Europe out again,” a user identified as Mr Vance said in the chat, expressing reservations about whether to go ahead with the strikes. “And if there are things we can do upfront to minimise risk to Saudi oil facilities, we should do it.”

“VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading,” Mr Hegseth responded. “It’s PATHETIC.”

That back and forth was included in a series of texts received by The Atlantic’s top editor, Mr Jeffrey Goldberg, after he was inadvertently added to a text group on the Signal app with top Trump administration officials who were planning attacks on the Houthis, a Yemeni militia that has menaced shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year. 

The attacks went ahead soon after.

European allies’ unease was already running deep towards the US after President Donald Trump’s repeated broadsides accusing them of not spending enough on defence or spending more on Ukraine’s defence. Mr Trump is also vowing massive tariffs that would rock the economies of several European Union members.

Mr Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference in February – in which he accused Germany of censoring supporters of the far right – fanned the flames. And Mr Hegseth delivered a speech to Nato that further ruffled feathers when he said the US can’t be “primarily focused on the security of Europe”.

The private text exchanges went further, however, with White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz saying the US would tally up the costs associated with the strike on the Houthis and “levy them on the Europeans” per Mr Trump’s request. 

“In the amazing story of the Signal group coordinating Yemen air strikes, Vice-President JD Vance once again comes out as driven by deep anti-European resentment,” former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt wrote on X.

A National Security Council spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on relations with Europe. But the White House confirmed the text exchange appeared to be genuine.

Britain and other allies have participated in past strikes against the Houthis, which started under President Joe Biden. The Houthis began attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea in late 2023, ostensibly in support of the Palestinians after the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza. 

In 2024, the Biden administration launched an international task force dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian with Britain, France, Italy and other partners to protect the shipping lanes. The EU initiated a separate naval mission, Aspides, sending European warships to protect cargo vessels. 

Amid the hostile rhetoric, European allies may now also reflect on the ramifications of sharing classified information with the Americans.

The Trump officials’ private comments in the group message are similar to what they say in public about Europe, but allies will be concerned about best practices in communications procedures, according to Ms Emily Harding, a former top intelligence official and now a vice-president at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.  

 “Anything that suggests that recipients of their information are not using best practices would be a cause for concern,” she said.

Mr Larry Pfeiffer, a former senior director in the White House Situation Room, said the officials’ use of the Signal messaging app to exchange highly classified information was “completely inexcusable”.

“There’s no telling if a personal device was compromised, in which case a bad actor could see the message as it was being typed in,” he said. 

Still, allies are unlikely to drastically curtail the sharing of information. While allied nations can provide valuable intelligence to the US, particularly in sensitive parts of the world US officials have limited access to, foreign partners tend to rely disproportionately on intelligence the US shares with them. 

“I worry this carelessness will make our allies think twice before sharing sensitive information with us,” Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence committee, said in an e-mail. “Unfortunately, this appears to be part of a pattern,” he added. Bloomberg