The Trump Administration has hit a new low with a national security breach of highly sensitive and detailed war plans. Not only did these events transpire, but the administration is now downplaying the incident and refusing to admit any wrongdoings despite an upcoming Pentagon investigation.
On March 24, The Atlantic published an article titled “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans,” where reporter Jerry Goldberg reported that he was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat named “Houthi PC small group” by National Security Advisor Micheal Waltz. Signal is a popular encrypted messaging service used for private communication, and as we now know, is apparently utilized by America’s highest officials, despite it being a commercial messaging app.
The sheer fact that official business was communicated on an app is a sign of serious concern. But even worse was the avoidable mistake of accidentally adding a third party.
Goldberg reported that he was added to the chat by Micheal Waltz at 11:44 a.m., roughly two hours before the military strikes. In this group chat were White House employees such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Waltz and 13 other individuals who were engaging in back and forth detailed plans for their attacks directed at Iranian-back Houthis in Yemen, hence the now infamous name “Houthi PC small group.”
Jerry Goldberg has specifically been a target by the Trump administration when back in 2020 he reported on Trump’s comments made about veterans where he stated they were “losers” and “suckers.” Since then, the two have had an adversarial relationship, which makes this incident all the more absurd.
It’s seemingly unthinkable that Waltz managed to add one of Trump’s most hated reporters, out of many, to such a conversation, and it goes to show his misguided and unqualified ability to perform his duties.
To combat such a scandal, Trump and other officials have begun to resort to their easy scapegoat of diverting the blame and refusing to take accountability. This has taken place in many different forms.
From Pete Hegseth’s statements, “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.” To Trump’s more predictable claims of “It’s all a witch hunt. There was no harm done because the attack was unbelievably successful, and that’s the thing that you should be talking about.”
But these are obvious lies. Hegseth’s assertion that these messages weren’t war plans was quickly disproven by Goldberg who leaked the chats. One specific leaked message by Hegseth says:
“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)”
Republicans’ attempts to downplay this incident and refuse to admit any wrongdoing show the stark lack of responsibility and incompetence demonstrated by these individuals. These are very clearly war plans, and no amount of denial can change that. These are not the types of messages that should be sent to an unknown number, let alone a reporter.
As for Trump calling this a “witch hunt,” he’s resorting to the typical excuse he makes for every scandal or reporting that portrays him in a negative light. It isn’t new for the Trump administration to accuse journalists of publishing radical leftist misinformation that is specifically designed to target him.
But this incident cannot be categorized as a hit piece, it exposes the inner workings of the administration and the mismanagement of information.
These inaccurate portrayals are not only done to minimize the damage and to distract the public with disinformation, but also to discredit Goldberg’s accounting of the events entirely. Misleading the public can only go so far and has so far failed, given the increased bipartisan call for an investigation.
The Pentagon’s inspector general will begin an evaluation of the Department of Defense’s procedure of using the commercial messaging service for military operations and, most importantly, the unfathomable breach in national security. Such a breach could have grave consequences if it were placed in the wrong hands. This incident should not, and cannot, be downplayed.
As of April 4, no officials have been fired. Yet when juxtaposed against DOGE’s (Department of Government Efficiency) mass firings of employees who are unable to perform the full duties of their jobs effectively, it is clear that the Trump administration has no regard for the performance or quality of workers, and is instead fixated on preserving their “perfect” image.
