Should our leaders carelessly leak attack plans?

The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, just posted an article in which he revealed that he was included in a Signal chat group that discussed specific plans to attack the Houthis before the attack was carried out. Members of the group included JD Vance, Pete Hegseth (Secretary of Defense), Tulsi Gabbard (DNI), John Ratcliffe (CIA head), and others. The White House confirmed that the Signal chat group was genuine.

Here’s a gift link to the article in The Atlantic that tells the whole story: The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans.

Quoting: “U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.”

Heather Cox Richardson has an excellent explanation of both what happened and the responses to it in her latest Letters From an American.

Update (3/27/25): After the White House claimed that the information Jeffrey Goldberg withheld in his initial article wasn’t classified and wasn’t of serious concern, Goldberg released a full transcript of the attack plans in a new article in The Atlantic (gift link). You can hear him explain why he did so here:

The fallout has been ongoing, with anger focused on Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz, as discussed in this article from Politico:

• The White House is publicly defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he texted sensitive military information in a Signal chat. But behind the scenes, administration insiders are starting to express doubts about the Pentagon chief’s judgment.
• Officials agree national security adviser Mike Waltz, who accidentally invited a journalist to a group chat with senior leaders, could more easily take the fall for a scandal that has embarrassed the administration — which may end up sparing Hegseth his job.
• But Republican hawks, Pentagon officials and even some inside the White House now believe Hegseth also messed up by sending likely classified details from his phone. And that has the potential to undermine his credibility in the administration.

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