Trump Administration Accidentally Added Atlantic Editor To War Strike Group Chat

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth casually shared highly sensitive national security information in the Signal chat, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg wrote.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said national security advisor Michael Waltz inadvertently added him to a group chat with Trump administration officials discussing war strikes in Yemen and other highly sensitive matters of national security.

Goldberg recounted the implausible situation in The Atlantic on Monday, starting from the moment earlier this month Waltz added him to the 18-person group chat on Signal ― something he first assumed was part of an elaborate hoax or disinformation campaign ― to his realization that President Donald Trump’s top national security players were actually tinkering with war plans over a text thread.

In addition to Waltz, officials Goldberg seemingly identified in the group chat included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who he says sent information that our adversaries could have “used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East;” Vice President JD Vance; Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence; and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Goldberg said the situation he was in “became truly bizarre” on March 15, four days after Waltz added him to the conversation. At around 11:44 a.m. ET, Hegseth texted the group “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing” of U.S. strikes on Yemen set to happen about two hours later. When those strikes took place as planned, Goldberg viewed the text thread as legitimate.

“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 U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Goldberg wrote.