The Atlantic releases full text of group chat on Yemen airstrike plans, White House responds

WASHINGTON -- Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, released on Wednesday the full content of a group chat regarding the operation plan to strike Houthi forces in Yemen, after President Donald Trump and several high-ranking officials claimed the group chat did not contain classified information.

In an article titled "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans" published on Monday, Goldberg detailed how senior US national security officials recently added him to a Signal group chat discussing a military strike on Houthi forces in Yemen. Signal is an open-source, encrypted messaging service.

Goldberg said that on March 15, the account labeled "Pete Hegseth," matching the name of the US secretary of defense, sent a message in the chat with operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, scheduled to take place in two hours. The message included information about "targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing."

Goldberg did not release the specific details of the message at that time, saying that "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."

In the newly published article, Goldberg and his colleague Shane Harris fully disclosed this information. In an update to the group chat at 11:44 am Eastern Time on March 15, Hegseth said that "Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch." Centcom, or Central Command, is the US military's combatant command for the Middle East.

The Hegseth text also outlined the timeline of the military operation, detailing the launch and strike schedule: "1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)" "1345: 'Trigger Based' F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME - also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)"...

"Experts have repeatedly told us that use of a Signal chat for such sensitive discussions poses a threat to national security," Goldberg and his colleague said.

"If this information -- particularly the exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen -- had fallen into the wrong hands in that crucial two-hour period, American pilots and other American personnel could have been exposed to even greater danger than they ordinarily would face," they argued.

The article said that The Atlantic sent emails to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, and the White House, asking if they objected publishing the full texts. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emailed a response, reiterated that there was no classified information in the chat, but stated that it was intended to be an "internal and private deliberation" among senior officials, involving sensitive information, and therefore opposed its release.

"There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared," the article argued.

Shortly after the article was published on Wednesday, US Vice-President JD Vance responded on social media, saying that "It's very clear Goldberg oversold what he had."

Vance also noted that CIA Director John Ratcliffe was attacked by Goldberg for mentioning a CIA official's name in the group chat, but it turned out that Ratcliffe had only mentioned his chief of staff.

On a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday, Ratcliffe said that the official was not undercover and that sharing the name in the Signal conversation was "completely appropriate."

The Atlantic's latest article, however, said that a CIA spokesperson asked them to withhold the name of Ratcliffe's chief of staff, because CIA intelligence officers are traditionally not publicly identified. "We will continue to withhold the name of the officer," the article said.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the White House press secretary continued to stand by the statement that there is no classified information in the group chat. "This message, there was no classified information transmitted. There were no war plans discussed," she said.