US Officials ’Accidentally’ Share War Plans with Journalist in Signal Group Chat

By Staff, Agencies

Top officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration mistakenly included The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in a Signal group chat where they reportedly shared sensitive military plans for airstrikes in Yemen, The Atlantic reported on Monday.

Goldberg revealed that he received details of the attack on March 15—two hours before the airstrikes began—when War Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly texted the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The message contained specifics on weapons, targets and timing.

The “National Security” Council spokesperson Brian Hughes acknowledged the authenticity of the leaked conversation and stated that an investigation is underway to determine how Goldberg’s number was mistakenly added.

According to Goldberg, he was included in the chat by someone impersonating Trump’s “National Security” Adviser, Michael Waltz. Other members of the group reportedly included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Director of “National” Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Two days later—Thursday—at 4:28 p.m., he 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 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.

While Goldberg initially doubted the authenticity of the messages, he reconsidered after the airstrikes took place as described. He warned that if the information had fallen into the hands of adversaries, it could have jeopardized American military and intelligence personnel in the Middle East.

In response to the leak, “National Security” Council spokesperson Brian Hughes acknowledged the authenticity of the leaked conversation, confirming that an investigation is underway to determine how Goldberg’s phone number was mistakenly included in the chat.

However, War Secretary Hegseth dismissed the allegations, calling Goldberg a “discredited journalist” and denying that any war plans had been shared. Meanwhile, Trump initially claimed to be unaware of the breach but later appeared to joke about it, dismissing The Atlantic as “not much of a magazine.”

Despite the controversy, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt affirmed that Trump maintains “the utmost confidence” in Waltz and the “national security” team. It remains unclear whether the shared information was classified.