Trump administration ‘accidentally’ adds journalist to Signal chat on US secret war plans

Officials from the US President Donald Trump-led administration added Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, to a Signal group chat discussing forthcoming strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

Goldberg narrated the accident in a report for the publication on Monday.

According to Goldberg, the leak happened two hours before a barrage of US air strikes targeted the rebels on March 15.

Before the confirmation of the attacks, the editor said he received a Signal connection request on March 11 from a user identified as Michael Waltz.

Waltz is the US national security adviser. Goldberg said he did not assume that the request was from the actual Michael Waltz but still held out hope that the security official wanted to chat about “Ukraine, Iran, or some 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,” Goldberg added.

What followed was a series of texts confirming coordinated plans, including a timeline of the air strikes against the Houthi targets.

According to the journalist, the group chat included representatives of JD Vance, US vice-president; Marco Rubio, secretary of state; Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence; Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense; and Scott Bessent, treasury secretary.

Goldberg said he had “very strong doubts” that the text group was real “because I could not believe that the national-security 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 U.S. officials, up to and including the vice president,” he added.

The journalist said he was still in doubt till media outlets reported the attacks at the same time, confirmed in the group chat.

The White House has since confirmed the incident.

Goldberg said he removed himself from the group and contacted officials about the mistake.

The leak is one of the highest US security breaches in recent times.

When asked for a reaction, Trump said offhandedly that he was unaware of the leak.

“I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic. It’s, to me, it’s a magazine that’s going out of business. I think it’s not much of a magazine. But I know nothing about it,” he added.

In 2023, Trump was accused of possessing classified defense documents belonging to the US and other foreign countries and showing them to unauthorised civilians, including a writer.

The National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking into how Goldberg’s number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat.