Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic (News+ link):

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.

This is going to require some explaining. […]

The notion of a journalist being accidentally included in a war-planning group of national security leaders — and the very notion that U.S. national security leaders would use Signal to conduct such a group, using their personal phones — is so preposterous that Goldberg had assumed the group was a hoax, with the intention of embarrassing him. But it was real.

Earlier 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 Trump-administration
officials use Signal regularly for sensitive discussions? Do the
officials believe that the use of such a channel could endanger
American personnel?

I’ll add: Do they sniff glue and eat paste?

There’s so much chaos at the moment resulting from the Trump administration’s actions during these first two months that it’s easy to overlook one salient fact: Trump has chosen to surround himself with idiots.

Link: theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump…

---

Title: The Trump Administration Accidentally Included Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor of The Atlantic, in a Signal Group Chat That Revealed War Plans for Yemen
URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/
Source: Daring Fireball
Source URL: https://daringfireball.net/
Date: March 24, 2025 at 07:19PM
Feedly Board(s): Schule