WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HECK?
Yes, this apparently happened.
The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, probably one of the worst people on the planet for the Trump admin to add to a group chat, was added to secure communications on the Signal app between 18 members of the White House National Security Council, including Vice President JD Vance and Sec. of Defense Pete Hegseth, and saw plans regarding this month's U.S. military attacks on Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
A few screenshots:
Absolutely unreal.
From Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg:
The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.
I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.
Apparently, Goldberg had been in the chat for several days, just relishing his experience as a fly on the wall.
He says Trump's national security advisor, Michael Walz (who I assume is about to be unemployed), sent him a request to connect on Signal on March 11.
I assumed that the Michael Waltz in question was President Donald Trump's national security adviser. I did not assume, however, that the request was from the actual Michael Waltz. I have met him in the past, and though I didn't find it particularly strange that he might be reaching out to me, I did think it somewhat unusual, given the Trump administration's contentious relationship with journalists — and Trump's periodic fixation on me specifically. It immediately crossed my mind that someone could be masquerading as Waltz in order to somehow entrap me. It is not at all uncommon these days for nefarious actors to try to induce journalists to share information that could be used against them.
I accepted the connection request, hoping that this was the actual national security adviser, and that he wanted to chat about Ukraine, or Iran, or some other important matter.
Two days later — Thursday — at 4:28 p.m., I received a notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group. It was called the 'Houthi PC small group.'
In that group, top members of Trump's Cabinet discussed upcoming military plans that could have easily caused havoc if they would have been leaked to enemies.
I mean ... guys, it's really, really bad when David Frum is dunking on you.
To make matters worse, Trump learned about this debacle during a press conference.
On Monday morning, Goldberg wrote to the users in the group - including Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard - to inform them, a full 13 days later, that he was in their group chat.
In an email, I outlined some of my questions: Is the 'Houthi PC small group' a genuine Signal thread? Did they know that I was included in this group? Was I (on the off chance) included on purpose? If not, who did they think I was? Did anyone realize who I was when I was added, or when I removed myself from the group? Do senior Trump-administration officials use Signal regularly for sensitive discussions? Do the officials believe that the use of such a channel could endanger American personnel?
Man, the libs are laughing right now. Absolutely laughing.
Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council, responded two hours later, confirming the veracity of the Signal group. 'This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,' Hughes wrote. 'The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.'
Not sure that spin is going to work, Brian, but nice try.
Like clockwork, the Dems (who probably spent all afternoon laughing their socks off) put on their grumpy faces to go on the attack.
From that story:
'This is an outrageous national security breach and heads should roll,' Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement to Axios.
He added: 'We need a full investigation and hearing into this on the House Armed Services Committee, ASAP.'
'We can't chalk this up to a simple mistake — people should be fired for this,' said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), another Armed Services Committee member.
You can't really blame them. If you were a politician and your enemies dropped this gift of incompetency into your lap, what would you do??
I'm not really sure how to end this article, so...
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