The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans The Atlantic

pUS nationalsecurity leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen I didnt think it could be real Then the bombs started fallingppProduced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio Noa using AI narration Listen to more stories on the Noa appppThe world found out shortly before 2 pm eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across YemenppI 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 1144 am The plan included precise information about weapons packages targets and timingppThis is going to require some explainingppThis article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter Sign up for it hereppThe story technically begins shortly after the Hamas invasion of southern Israel in October 2023 The Houthisan Iranbacked terrorist organization whose motto is God is great death to America death to Israel curse on the Jews victory to Islamsoon launched attacks on Israel and on international shipping creating havoc for global trade Throughout 2024 the Biden administration was ineffective in countering these Houthi attacks the incoming Trump administration promised a tougher responseppThis is where Pete Hegseth and I come inppOn Tuesday March 11 I received a connection request on Signal from a user identified as Michael Waltz Signal is an opensource encrypted messaging service popular with journalists and others who seek more privacy than other textmessaging services are capable of delivering I assumed that the Michael Waltz in question was President Donald Trumps 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 didnt find it particularly strange that he might be reaching out to me I did think it somewhat unusual given the Trump administrations contentious relationship with journalistsand Trumps 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 themppI 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 matterppTwo days laterThursdayat 428 pm I received a notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group It was called the Houthi PC small groupppA 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 deputiesagency 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 eveningppThe message continued Pls provide the best staff POC from your team for us to coordinate with over the next couple days and over the weekend ThxppRead Here are the attack plans that Trumps advisers shared on SignalppThe term principals committee generally refers to a group of the seniormost nationalsecurity officials including the secretaries of defense state and the treasury as well as the director of the CIA It should go without sayingbut Ill say it anywaythat I have never been invited to a White House principalscommittee meeting and that in my many years of reporting on nationalsecurity matters I had never heard of one being convened over a commercial messaging appppOne minute later a person identified only as MARthe secretary of state is Marco Antonio Rubiowrote Mike Needham for State apparently designating the current counselor of the State Department as his representative At that same moment a Signal user identified as JD Vance wrote Andy baker for VP One minute after that TG presumably Tulsi Gabbard the director of national intelligence or someone masquerading as her wrote Joe Kent for DNI Nine minutes later Scott Bapparently Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent or someone spoofing his identity wrote Dan Katz for Treasury At 453 pm a user called Pete Hegseth wrote Dan Caldwell for DoD And at 634 pm Brian wrote Brian McCormack for NSC One more person responded John Ratcliffe wrote at 524 pm with the name of a CIA official to be included in the group I am not publishing that name because that person is an active intelligence officerppThe principals had apparently assembled In all 18 individuals were listed as members of this group including various National Security Council officials Steve Witkoff President Trumps Middle East and Ukraine negotiator Susie Wiles the White House chief of staff and someone identified only as S M which I took to stand for Stephen Miller I appeared on my own screen only as JGppThat was the end of the Thursday text chainppAfter receiving the Waltz text related to the Houthi PC small group I consulted a number of colleagues We discussed the possibility that these texts were part of a disinformation campaign initiated by either a foreign intelligence service or more likely a mediagadfly organization the sort of group that attempts to place journalists in embarrassing positions and sometimes succeeds I had very strong doubts that this text group was real because I could not believe that the nationalsecurity leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans I also could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include the editor in chief of The Atlantic in such discussions with senior US officials up to and including the vice presidentppThe next day things got even strangerppAt 805 am on Friday March 14 Michael Waltz texted the group Team you should have a statement of conclusions with taskings per the Presidents guidance this morning in your high side inboxes High side in government parlance refers to classified computer and communications systems State and DOD we developed suggested notification lists for regional Allies and partners Joint Staff is sending this am a more specific sequence of events in the coming days and we will work w DOD to ensure COS OVP and POTUS are briefedppAt this point a fascinating policy discussion commenced The account labeled JD Vance responded at 816 Team I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan But I think we are making a mistake Vance was indeed in Michigan that day The Vance account goes on to state 3 percent of US trade runs through the suez 40 percent of European trade does There is a real risk that the public doesnt understand this or why its necessary The strongest reason to do this is as POTUS said to send a messageppThe Vance account then goes on to make a noteworthy statement considering that the vice president has not deviated publicly from Trumps position on virtually any issue I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now Theres a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month doing the messaging work on why this matters seeing where the economy is etcppA person identified in Signal as Joe Kent Trumps nominee to run the National Counterterrorism Center is named Joe Kent wrote at 822 There is nothing time sensitive driving the time line Well have the exact same options in a monthppThen at 826 am a message landed in my Signal app from the user John Ratcliffe The message contained information that might be interpreted as related to actual and current intelligence operationsppAt 827 a message arrived from the Pete Hegseth account VP I understand your concerns and fully support you raising w POTUS Important considerations most of which are tough to know how they play out economy Ukraine peace Gaza etc I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what nobody knows who the Houthis are which is why we would need to stay focused on 1 Biden failed 2 Iran fundedppThe Hegseth message goes on to state Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus 2 immediate risks on waiting 1 this leaks and we look indecisive 2 Israel takes an action first or Gaza cease fire falls apart and we dont get to start this on our own terms We can manage both We are prepared to execute and if I had final go or no go vote I believe we should This is not about the Houthis I see it as two things 1 Restoring Freedom of Navigation a core national interest and 2 Reestablish deterrence which Biden cratered But we can easily pause And if we do I will do all we can to enforce 100 OPSECoperations security I welcome other thoughtsppA few minutes later the Michael Waltz account posted a lengthy note about trade figures and the limited capabilities of European navies Whether its now or several weeks from now it will have to be the United States that reopens these shipping lanes Per the presidents request we are working with DOD and State to determine how to compile the cost associated and levy them on the EuropeansppThe account identified as JD Vance addressed a message at 845 to Pete Hegseth if you think we should do it lets go I just hate bailing Europe out again The administration has argued that Americas European allies benefit economically from the US Navys protection of international shipping lanesppThe user identified as Hegseth responded three minutes later VP I fully share your loathing of European freeloading Its PATHETIC But Mike is correct we are the only ones on the planet on our side of the ledger who can do this Nobody else even close Question is timing I feel like now is as good a time as any given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes I think we should go but POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision spaceppAt this point the previously silent S M joined the conversation As I heard it the president was clear green light but we soon make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return We also need to figure out how to enforce such a requirement EG if Europe doesnt remunerate then what If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in returnppppppppThat message from S Mpresumably President Trumps confidant Stephen Miller the deputy White House chief of staff or someone playing Stephen Millereffectively shut down the conversation The last text of the day came from Pete Hegseth who wrote at 946 am AgreeppAfter reading this chain I recognized that this conversation possessed a high degree of verisimilitude The texts in their word choice and arguments sounded as if they were written by the people who purportedly sent them or by a particularly adept AI text generator I was still concerned that this could be a disinformation operation or a simulation of some sort And I remained mystified that no one in the group seemed to have noticed my presence But if it was a hoax the quality of mimicry and the level of foreignpolicy insight were impressiveppIt was the next morning Saturday March 15 when this story became truly bizarreppAt 1144 am the account labeled Pete Hegseth posted in Signal a TEAM UPDATE I will not quote from this update or from certain other subsequent texts The information contained in them if they had been read by an adversary of the United States could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel particularly in the broader Middle East Central Commands area of responsibility What I will say in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen including information about targets weapons the US would be deploying and attack sequencingppThe only person to reply to the update from Hegseth was the person identified as the vice president I will say a prayer for victory Vance wrote Two other users subsequently added prayer emojippAccording to the lengthy Hegseth text the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence at 145 pm eastern time So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot If this Signal chat was real I reasoned Houthi targets would soon be bombed At about 155 I checked X and searched Yemen Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa the capital cityppI went back to the Signal channel At 148 Michael Waltz had provided the group an update Again I wont quote from this text except to note that he described the operation as an amazing job A few minutes later John Ratcliffe wrote A good start Not long after Waltz responded with three emoji a fist an American flag and fire Others soon joined in including MAR who wrote Good Job Pete and your team and Susie Wiles who texted Kudos to all most particularly those in theater and CENTCOM Really great God bless Steve Witkoff responded with five emoji two handspraying a flexed bicep and two American flags TG responded Great work and effects The afteraction discussion included assessments of damage done including the likely death of a specific individual The Houthirun Yemeni health ministry reported that at least 53 people were killed in the strikes a number that has not been independently verifiedppOn Sunday Waltz appeared on ABCs This Week and contrasted the strikes with the Biden administrations more hesitant approach These were not kind of pinprick backandforthwhat ultimately proved to be feckless attacks he said This was an overwhelming response that actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them outppThe Signal chat group I concluded was almost certainly real Having come to this realization one that seemed nearly impossible only hours before I removed myself from the Signal group understanding that this would trigger an automatic notification to the groups creator Michael Waltz that I had left No one in the chat had seemed to notice that I was there And I received no subsequent questions about why I leftor more to the point who I wasppEarlier today I emailed Waltz and sent him a message on his Signal account I also wrote to Pete Hegseth John Ratcliffe Tulsi Gabbard and other officials 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 Trumpadministration officials use Signal regularly for sensitive discussions Do the officials believe that the use of such a channel could endanger American personnelppBrian 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 securityppWilliam Martin a spokesperson for Vance said that despite the impression created by the texts the vice president is fully aligned with the president The Vice Presidents first priority is always making sure that the Presidents advisers are adequately briefing him on the substance of their internal deliberations he said Vice President Vance unequivocally supports this administrations foreign policy The President and the Vice President have had subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreementppI have never seen a breach quite like this It is not uncommon for nationalsecurity officials to communicate on Signal But the app is used primarily for meeting planning and other logistical mattersnot for detailed and highly confidential discussions of a pending military action And of course Ive never heard of an instance in which a journalist has been invited to such a discussionppRead A conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg about his extraordinary scoopppConceivably Waltz by coordinating a nationalsecurityrelated action over Signal may have violated several provisions of the Espionage Act which governs the handling of national defense information according to several nationalsecurity lawyers interviewed by my colleague Shane Harris for this story Harris asked them to consider a hypothetical scenario in which a senior US official creates a Signal thread for the express purpose of sharing information with Cabinet officials about an active military operation He did not show them the actual Signal messages or tell them specifically what had occurredppAll of these lawyers said that a US official should not establish a Signal thread in the first place Information about an active operation would presumably fit the laws definition of national defense information The Signal app is not approved by the government for sharing classified information The government has its own systems for that purpose If officials want to discuss military activity they should go into a specially designed space known as a sensitive compartmented information facility or SCIFmost Cabinetlevel nationalsecurity officials have one installed in their homeor communicate only on approved government equipment the lawyers said Normally cellphones are not permitted inside a SCIF which suggests that as these officials were sharing information about an active military operation they could have been moving around in public Had they lost their phones or had they been stolen the potential risk to national security would have been severeppHegseth Ratcliffe and other Cabinetlevel officials presumably would have the authority to declassify information and several of the nationalsecurity lawyers noted that the hypothetical officials on the Signal chain might claim that they had declassified the information they shared But this argument rings hollow they cautioned because Signal is not an authorized venue for sharing information of such a sensitive nature regardless of whether it has been stamped top secret or notppThere was another potential problem Waltz set some of the messages in the Signal group to disappear after one week and some after four That raises questions about whether the officials may have violated federal records law Text messages about official acts are considered records that should be preservedppUnder the records laws applicable to the White House and federal agencies all government employees are prohibited from using electronicmessaging applications such as Signal for official business unless those messages are promptly forwarded or copied to an official government account Jason R Baron a professor at the University of Maryland and the former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration told HarrisppIntentional violations of these requirements are a basis for disciplinary action Additionally agencies such as the Department of Defense restrict electronic messaging containing classified information to classified government networks andor networks with governmentapproved encrypted features Baron saidppSeveral former US officials told Harris and me that they had used Signal to share unclassified information and to discuss routine matters particularly when traveling overseas without access to US government systems But they knew never to share classified or sensitive information on the app because their phones could have been hacked by a foreign intelligence service which would have been able to read the messages on the devices It is worth noting that Donald Trump as a candidate for president and as president repeatedly and vociferously demanded that Hillary Clinton be imprisoned for using a private email server for official business when she was secretary of state It is also worth noting that Trump was indicted in 2023 for mishandling classified documents but the charges were dropped after his electionppWaltz and the other Cabinetlevel officials were already potentially violating government policy and the law simply by texting one another about the operation But when Waltz added a journalistpresumably by mistaketo his principals committee he created new security and legal issues Now the group was transmitting information to someone not authorized to receive it That is the classic definition of a leak even if it was unintentional and even if the recipient of the leak did not actually believe it was a leak until Yemen came under American attackppAll along members of the Signal group were aware of the need for secrecy and operations security In his text detailing aspects of the forthcoming attack on Houthi targets Hegseth wrote to the groupwhich at the time included meWe are currently clean on OPSECppShane Harris contributed reporting ppppppppppp