Senior members of the Donald Trump cabinet have been involved in a serious security violation while discussing secret military plans for recent US attacks against the Hutí armed group in Yemen.
In an unprecedented error, key members of the Trump administration – including vice president JD Vance, defense secretary Peter Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard – used the signal messaging application to meet and discuss the plans, including by accident a journalist in the group.
Signal is not approved by the US government to share sensitive information.
Other participants in the chat were Trump Stephen Miller’s advisor, his Susie Wiles Cabinet Chief and the Steve Witkoff envoy.
The filtration was revealed in An article published Monday by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, who discovered that it had been added to a chat of Signal called “Houthi PC Small Group”. He realized that there were 18 more members in the group, including high positions of the Trump cabinet.
In his story, Goldberg said he eliminated sensitive material from his account, including the identity of a senior CIA official and operational details.
The report was confirmed by Brian Hughes, spokesman for the National Security Council, who told the magazine: “It seems to be an authentic chain of messages and we are reviewing how a number was added involuntarily to the conversation.”
Hughes added: “The thread is a sample of the deep and reflective coordination of policies between senior officials. The continuous success of the operation against the hutis demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”
The incident will further increase concerns about the reliability of the Trump administration in the management of intelligence information by its allies, especially because at a time Hegseth presumed to guarantee “100% operational security (OPSEC)” while a journalist read his messages.
The discussions witnessed by Goldberg include comments from Vance, who seemed not to be convinced of the urgency of attacking Yemen, as well as conversations about what price Europeans and other countries should pay for the elimination of the threat on a key route of the global maritime trade by the US.
Experts in Security and Intelligence in the US described the operational security filtration as an unprecedented event, both for the use of a commercial courier application and for the inclusion of Goldberg.
In the US Army, the highest political spheres and intelligence services operate under strict rules for the communication of classified material and the discussion of operational security issues, where the revelation of information could compromise lives and missions.
Although Signal is considered a safe encrypted messaging application, its vulnerability is that the phones in which it is installed can be vulnerable by themselves.
Among the most alarmed by the filtration was Democratic congressman Pat Ryan, an army veteran who is part of the Armed Services Committee of the Representatives Chamber. Used the term of World War II Fubar (FUCKED UP BEYOND ALL COLLECTION – “Fucked beyond all recognition”) to describe the incident:
“If the Chamber Republicans do not hold a audience on how this happened immediately, I will do it myself.”
Shane Harris, a veteran national security journalist – previously in The Washington Post And now in The Atlantic– He wrote in Bluesky: “In 25 years covering national security, I had never seen a story like this.”
Goldberg writes that, at first, he doubted whether the messages could be part of a foreign misinformation operation, but ended up convinced of his authenticity both by the language and the positions expressed and for the fact that the plans discussed coincided with a real attack against Yemen.
A particularly striking dialogue involved Vance and Hegseth making derogatory comments about Europe.
“The account identified as’ JD Vance ‘sent a message to @Pete Hegseth at 8:45:’ If you think we should do it, let’s do it. I simply hate to get Europe out of trouble again,” Goldberg wrote.
The Trump administration has argued that US European allies benefit economically from the protection that the US Navy offers to international navigation routes.
Goldberg continues: “The user identified as Hegseth replied three minutes later: ‘VP: I completely share your contempt for European parasites. It is pathetic. But Mike is right, we are the only The president still has 24 hours to decide. ‘”
Actually, about 20 countries are involved in the mission to protect the navigation of huti attacks.
When Goldberg realized that the attack against Yemen was underway, he returned to the signal channel and observed the following message:
“Michael Waltz [asesor de seguridad nacional de EEUU] He had provided an update to the group. Again, I will not cite the message, except to point out that he described the operation as an ‘amazing work’. ”
A few minutes later, another member wrote: “A good start.”
Shortly after, Waltz responded with three emojis: a fist, a US and fire flag. Others joined quickly, including “sea” [Marco Rubio]who wrote: “Good job, Pete, and your team!” Susie Wiles added: “Congratulations to all, especially those who are already in the field and Centcom. Really great. God bless you.”
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