Washington is reeling from Monday's revelation that an inner circle of White House officials — including Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz — discussed in detail U.S. plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen on the encrypted messaging app Signal.
The officials appeared unaware that Waltz had mistakenly added another member to the chat: Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. Others in the text thread included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Members of the group reportedly discussed sensitive, classified details — including weapons used, targets and timing — two hours ahead of the attacks, which began March 15. Now, lawmakers, intelligence community members and experts are asking how the unprecedented breach of information occurred, and why government officials were discussing highly classified plans outside of secure channels.
In The Memo, The Hill's Niall Stanage breaks down five key takeaways from the explosive story.
The White House on Monday acknowledged the authenticity of the message thread and characterized the leak as "inadvertent." President Trump told reporters at the White House that he had no knowledge of the article, though he does have a contentious history with The Atlantic. "You're telling me about it for the first time," he said.
Others had harsher words.
"Sounds like a huge screwup," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters on Monday. "I mean, is there any other way to describe it?"
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the administration's messaging was "blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief."
"Our national security is in the hands of complete amateurs," she said. "What other highly sensitive national security conversations are happening over group chat? Any other random people accidentally added to those, too?"
What happens now?
Brian Hughes, spokesperson for the National Security Council, characterized the Signal thread as "a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials" executing national security strategy. But questions remain about how the administration has discussed classified issues and whether anyone will be disciplined — or fired.
While Trump has not made any comments suggesting officials will be asked to resign, Waltz's future is in doubt. A person close to the White House was blunt, Politico reports: "Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f--king idiot."
Several Pentagon officials told The New York Times they were shocked that Hegseth put American war plans into a commercial chat app, warning that having that type of conversation on Signal could be a violation of the Espionage Act, which covers the handling of sensitive information. Some messages in the Signal chat were set to auto-expire after a certain period of time, putting them in conflict with archiving laws.
News of the highly sensitive breach quickly drew damning comments from Democrats who faulted the carelessness. They called attention to Trump's history of repeatedly demanding that Hillary Clinton be jailed for using a private email server for official business when she was secretary of State.
Time magazine: What encrypted messaging means for government transparency.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday called for a congressional investigation, saying the details of the breach reveal a "reckless" administration — one stocked with an "unqualified" Cabinet — that poses a threat to national security in the name of defending it. More fallout is likely in the days to come, as Democrats have called on congressional Republicans to have Hegseth testify before Congress and "be held accountable."
But Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) dismissed the idea that there should be additional investigations. "I'm told they're doing an investigation to find out how that number was included, and that should be that," Johnson told reporters at the Capitol.
▪ Axios: Congress erupts over the leak.
▪ The Hill: Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee and former Air Force officer, pressed for all government personnel to receive training on how to handle classified material.
▪ The Hill: Congressional Republicans aired concerns about the Signal leak, calling the episode "embarrassing" and "inconceivable." But even as some called for investigations, leaders stopped short of demanding any action to be taken against the officials involved.
The leak joins a litany of national security concerns raised in Washington as the Trump administration's foreign policy redefines the established world order.
But the particulars of the Signal leak — its implication of top-level Cabinet officials and apparent circumvention of standard protocols for discussing highly classified information — give Democrats an opening to land an attack against an administration they view as incompetent and harmful.
"From an operational security perspective, this is the highest level of f--kup imaginable," former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote on the social platform X. "These people cannot keep America safe."
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