Top national security officers of US President Donald Trump, including his Minister of Defense and Vice President, wrote about war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a safe messaging app that contained the editor-in-chief for the Atlantic, reported the magazine in a story that was published online on Monday.
Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the US Security Council, said the text chain “seems to be authentic and we check how an accidental number has been added to the chain”.
Trump said reporters that he was not aware that the sensitive information had been shared two and a half hours after her message.
The material in the text chain between signal reports that seem to belong to the top trump officials, including Defense Minister Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, “contained operational details on upcoming strikes on the Iran-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen, including information about goals, weapons that the United States would use and sequence,” reported the editor-in chiefs.
It was not immediately clear whether the peculiarities of the military operation were classified, but they are often and at least safe to protect the service members and operational security. The United States has carried out air strikes against the Houthis since the militant group began in November 2023 with the focus on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea.
Just two hours after Goldberg announced that he had received the details of the attack on March 15, the USA began to start a number of air strikes against Houthi goals in Yemen.
“I don’t know anything about it”: Trump
Trump said to reporters: “I don’t know anything about it. You tell me about it for the first time.” He added that the Atlantic was “not much of a magazine”.
Government officers have used a signal for organizational correspondence, but it is not classified and can be hacked. According to data protection and tech experts, the popular end-to-end encryption and voice call app is safer than conventional SMS.
The exchange of sensitive information comes because Hegseth’s office has just announced a procedure for the Leck’s sensitive information, including the potential use of polygraphs for defense personnel to determine how reporters have received information.
Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not immediately answer on inquiries why the Minister of Defense posted war plans for an undeferred app.
“Breathtaking” and “dangerous” violation: legislators
The violation of the protocol was quickly convicted by democratic legislators. The democratic chairman of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, demanded a complete investigation.
“This is one of the most impressive violations of military intelligence that I read about in a very, very long time,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat, in a floor on Monday afternoon.
“If true, this story is one of the most outrageous failures for operational security and common sense that I have ever seen,” said Senator Jack Reed from Rhode Island, the Supreme Democrat in the Senate Committee, in a statement.
He said that American life was “at stake. The negligence that is shown by Trump’s cabinet is breathtaking and dangerous. I will immediately search for the administration answers.”
MP Jim Himes von Connecticut, the Supreme Democrat in the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was “horrified” by the reports.
Himes said that if a lower civil servant “would do what is described here, they would probably lose its approval and are subject to criminal investigations. The American people deserve to answer”, which he said he intended to achieve the previously planned hearing of the committee on Wednesday.
The majority leader of the Senate, John Thune, said he wanted to learn more about what happened.
“Obviously we had to lead it to the ground and find out what was going on there,” said Thune, a Republican in South Dakota.
Regulated by the spy network
Dealing with national defense information is subject to strictly legally under the centuries -old spy law, including provisions that make it a crime of removing such information from its “correct custody”, even if they have grossly negligent legislative actions.
In 2015 and 2016, the US Ministry of Justice examined whether the former US Foreign Minister Hillary Clinton violated the law by communicating about classified information about classified information about classified information, even though the FBI was ultimately recommended for charges and has not been brought.
In the administration of former US President Joe Biden, some officials were given permission to download signal to their telephones issued by White House. However, according to a former national security officer who worked in the Democratic government, it was instructed to use the app sparingly.
The official who requested anonymity to talk about methods with which confidential information was exchanged, said the signal to communicate most frequently, which they described internally as “tipers” to notify someone if they were not in the office or travel via the overseas that they should check their “high side” for a classified message.
The app was sometimes used by officials during the bidges to communicate about the planning of sensitive meetings or classified telephone calls when they were outside the office, said the official.
The use of Signal was more common in the last year of the bidges administration after the federal law enforcement officers had warned that China and Iran chopped the White House and Officials of the first Trump administration, according to the official. The official was not aware of the top official of the bidet administration, as is the former US Vice President Kamala Harris, former US defense minister Lloyd Austin, and former national security consultant Jake Sullivan-used signal to discuss sensitive plans such as the Trump government officials.
Some of the toughest criticism on Monday were aimed at Hegseth, a former moderator of Fox News Channel Weekend.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, a veteran of Iraq war, said on social media that Hegseth, “the non -qualified Minister of Defense demonstrates his incompetence by literally classified war plans in the group chat.”
