A journalist who was accidentally added to a group chat of Trump advisors has revealed the full “attack plans” for strikes in Yemen that he was inadvertently given access to.
A new article published in The Atlantic on Thursday (AEDT) was headed: ‘Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal’ and exposed the entire text thread.
The White House lashed out and labelled the editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, an “anti-Trump hater” who was a registered Democrat voter, and criticised his career.
In the latest tranche of messages, The Atlantic revealed the blow-by-blow account of live US operations in Yemen, as discussed in the group chat by top military and intelligence chiefs.
“As we wrote on Monday, much of the conversation in the ‘Houthi PC small group’ concerned the timing and rationale of attacks on the Houthis, and contained remarks by Trump-administration officials about the alleged shortcomings of America’s European allies,” wrote The Atlantic.
“But on the day of the attack—Saturday, March 15—the discussion veered toward the operational.”
“If this information—particularly the exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen—had fallen into the wrong hands in that crucial two-hour period, American pilots and other American personnel could have been exposed to even greater danger than they ordinarily would face.”
Accounts appearing to represent Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Hegseth, Ratcliffe, Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and senior National Security Council officials were assembled in the chat group.
In one of the previously unpublished message threads, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth updated the group on details of the American attacks:
TEAM UPDATE:
“TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.”
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”
“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”
“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)”
“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”
“MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”
“We are currently clean on OPSEC. [OPSEC is operational security to ensure sensitive information is not leaked.]
“Godspeed to our Warriors.”
The Trump administration has sought to contain the fallout, while Democrats called on top officials to resign over the security incident.
Goldberg was mistakenly added to the Signal group discussion by Trump’s National Security advisor Michael Waltz.
Waltz, in an interview on Fox News, said, “I take full responsibility” for the breach, as he had created the Signal group, but he emphasised there was no classified information shared.
Waltz said the situation was “embarrassing” and that the administration would “get to the bottom” of what went wrong.
He said Goldberg’s number was not saved in his phone and he does not know how the journalist was mistakenly added to the chat group.
Sensitive information is not supposed to be shared on commercial mobile phone apps. Additionally, Signal’s ability to erase conversations would violate laws governing the retention of government records.
The Trump administration on Thursday continued to insist that “no war plans were discussed” and no classified material was shared in the text group.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — both of whom were in the chat — testified with the same defiant message on Wednesday (AEDT) before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
But Democratic senators voiced skepticism given the discussion on operational details about pending strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, “including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing”.
Committee members said they planned — and Gabbard and Ratcliffe agreed to — an audit of the exchange.
The Senate’s Republican majority leader, John Thune, said he expected the Senate Armed Services Committee to look into Trump administration officials’ use of Signal.
“It’s hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified,” Senator Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said at the contentious hearing, which featured several sharp exchanges.
Gabbard repeatedly referred questions about the exchange to Hegseth and the Department of Defense.
She and Ratcliffe will face more lawmakers on Thursday (AEDT) when the House of Representatives will hold its annual “Worldwide Threats” hearing. Democrats said they planned to discuss the Signal chat.
The revelation on Tuesday (AEDT) drew outrage and disbelief among national security experts and prompted Democrats — and some of President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans — to call for an investigation of what they called a major security breach.
“I am of the view that there ought to be resignations, starting with the national security adviser and the secretary of defense,” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said at the hearing.
But Trump voiced support for his national security team when questioned about the incident at a White House event on Tuesday with Michael Waltz, his national security adviser, who mistakenly added Goldberg to the Signal discussion.
Trump said the administration would look into the use of Signal. He said he did not think Waltz should apologise, but said he did not think Waltz and the team would be using Signal again soon.
Gabbard acknowledged she had been abroad during the chat, although she declined to say whether she was using a private phone.
The White House sought to play down the incident. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Goldberg of sensationalising the story in a post on X.
Also on X, White House communications director Steven Cheung dismissed as “faux outrage” the concern over the inclusion of a journalist in a war-planning chat.
Hegseth told reporters on Monday that no one had texted war plans. Goldberg, appearing on CNN on Monday, called those comments “a lie”.
It remained unclear why the officials chose to chat via Signal rather than the secure government channels typically used for sensitive discussions.
-with AAP