Top Trump administration officials, including US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, mistakenly included a journalist in a messaging group discussing strikes against Yemen's Houthis, according to a firsthand account by The Atlantic magazine.
The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a report on Monday that he was inadvertently invited on March 13 to an encrypted chat group on the Signal messaging app called the "Houthi PC small group". In the group, national security adviser Mike Waltz tasked his deputy Alex Wong with setting up a "tiger team" to coordinate US action against the Houthis.
US President Donald Trump launched an ongoing campaign of large-scale military strikes against the Houthis on March 15 over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping.
Hours before those attacks started, Hegseth posted operational details about the plan, "including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing," Goldberg said, declining to disclose the details of what he termed the "shockingly reckless" use of the Signal chat to coordinate the strike.
The Defence Department referred a Reuters request for comment to the National Security Council, and NSC spokesman Brian Hughes said the chat group appeared to be authentic.
"At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. 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 our service members or our national security," Hughes said.
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