US war plans shared with journalist: What we know

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is dealing with the fallout of a stunning security breach that allowed a journalist to read exchanges between senior officials in a group chat on the Signal messaging app.

The group’s members, including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice-President J.D. Vance, talked about strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels hours before they were launched.

Here is what we know so far:

‘Houthi PC small group’

The breach became public on March 24 after The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published an article recounting how he was inadvertently invited into the group chat.

On March 11, Mr Goldberg said he received a Signal invite from a user called Mike Waltz, the same name as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser and a figure he had previously met.

Despite scepticism that it could be a way to entrap him for information, he accepted it and two days later found himself in a group called “Houthi PC small group” – apparently referring to a “principals committee”.

In the group were 18 members mostly identifying themselves as senior American officials – including Mr Vance, Mr Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

Journalist access

On March 14, messages in the group indicated that a US strike was being prepared against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The militant group has been trying to interrupt trade via the Red Sea and have targeted US military vessels several times in recent months.

In discussing the potential military action, Mr Vance notably objected by saying it would benefit Europeans much more than Americans, while the Trump administration is pushing for Europe to do more for its own defence.

On March 22, Mr Hegseth told the group in a message

strikes would be launched against the Houthis

in the coming hours.

Mr Goldberg said he chose not to reveal the contents of the message in his article for fear of compromising operational security and potentially endangering American forces in the Middle East.

After the message exchange, the group’s members congratulated one another using emojis.

The journalist said he believed the group to be authentic after this exchange, before leaving the group without any apparent reaction.

Strong reaction

National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said on March 24 the chain cited in the article appeared to be “authentic”.

The President later said: “I don’t know anything about it.”

Mr Hegseth remained defiant, saying “no one sent any war plans, and that’s all I have to say about it”.

He also launched a verbal attack on Mr Goldberg, calling him a “highly discredited so-called journalist” who peddles hoaxes.

Top Republicans such as House Speaker Mike Johnson also downplayed the incident, saying no one should be punished for the breach.

But some Republican lawmakers could not hide their embarrassment.

“Someone screwed up,” Senator Tim Sheehy reportedly told journalists.

On the other side of the aisle, top Democrat lawmakers were outraged.

“From an operational security perspective, this is the highest level of ****-up imaginable. These people cannot keep America safe,” said former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described it as “one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about” and called for a full investigation.

Investigation

Mr Johnson said there was “an ongoing investigation to determine” how the security breach happened.

“I’m not sure it requires any particular attention,” he said, according to the New York Times.

Asked by The Hill magazine whether National Security Adviser Waltz, whom The Atlantic said created the chat group, should be punished, he replied: “No, of course not.”

But Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said the breach was “blatantly illegal”.

Lawmakers are likely to grill Trump officials over the controversy on March 26, when several agency heads – including members of the chat group – appear at a previously scheduled House Intelligence Committee hearing.

The fiasco has been quickly compared to the scandal that tarnished Hillary Clinton during her failed 2016 presidential run, when she faced fierce criticism and a criminal investigation into her use of an unsecured personal e-mail to exchange official messages.

Mr Trump denounced it as the “biggest political scandal since Watergate”, the scandal that led to the resignation of then President Richard Nixon in 1974.

The FBI reopened its investigation into Mrs Clinton shortly before the 2016 election, which many Democrats believe tipped the election to Mr Trump. The agency concluded there were no grounds for prosecution. AFP