United States: During Monday’s media reports, it was revealed that The Atlantic editor-in-chief received military plans for future attacks on Houthis from Trump administration national security staff using group messaging software.
The US National Security Council has verified the textual information sent through the messaging app.
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The Editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, the material in the text chain, stated, “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” euronews.com reported.
The operational details technically belonged to classified status, although such information normally receives security protection, which shields troop safety and military operational procedures.
Since November 2023, the US launched strikes against the Houthis after they started their attacks on ships in the Red Sea area.
The US military initiated airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen barely two hours following the moment Goldberg received the strike details on March 15.
A statement released by the National Security Council
The National Security Council released a statement to investigate the process through which a journalist received access to the Signal group chat.
The Signal app serves governmental officials for official team communication, but the exchanged material does not receive classified status.
End-to-end encryption experts, along with privacy specialists, describe Signal as establishing a more secure text and voice transmission environment than traditional messaging platforms.
The Atlantic reveals details of the US war chat leak, including plans for Yemen strikes, after senior Trump officials claimed 'no classified info'.
— WION (@WIONews) March 27, 2025
The magazine says it has released it in the public interest.@saroyahem and @shivanchanana tell you more pic.twitter.com/ywpiAt9JwA
During the time when Hegseth’s office implemented new measures against sensitive information leaks despite warning troops about polygraphs for reporting methods, the disclosure to journalists took place.
While discussing the matter publicly for the first time, Henderson Hegseth accused Jeffrey Goldberg of being “deceitful” with a “so-called journalist status” and criticized him for his past Trump-related reporting at The Atlantic.
He did not explain the reasons Signal was selected to exchange sensitive operation information nor how Goldberg joined the chat system.
Furthermore, “Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” as Hegseth stated in an exchange with reporters after landing in Hawaii on Monday when he began his first trip to the Indo-Pacific as defense secretary.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt emphasized through a statement on Monday that President Donald Trump maintains his complete trust in Waltz and his national security team.