- The White House confirmed the authenticity of a group chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed sensitive military plans regarding air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. A reporter revealed the news after National Security Adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently added him to a group chat.
- The security breach led to bipartisan calls for an investigation.
- Hegseth and Waltz have both been extraordinarily critical of Democrats who made similar mistakes with national security information.
Full Story
The White House confirmed the authenticity of a group chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed sensitive military plans regarding air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Who was accidentally added to the chat?
Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, revealed the news after he was inadvertently included in the chat. The chat also included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
The security breach led to bipartisan calls for an investigation.
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said the story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense he had ever seen.
“The carelessness shown by President Trump’s cabinet is stunning and dangerous,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a statement.
“Classified information should not be transmitted on unsecured channels — and certainly not to those without security clearances, including reporters,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., stated. “Safeguards must be put in place to ensure this never happens again.”
What did the chat look like?
According to Goldberg’s description of the events in The Atlantic, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz added Goldberg to a chat titled “Houthi PC small group.” Although he’s not certain why, he believes it could be because his initials in the app are JG, the same as Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative who attends national security meetings.
Goldberg also revealed Vice President Vance texted the group that he thought the air strikes were a mistake. Goldberg said they were inconsistent with President Trump’s political messages and that they could cause a spike in oil prices.
After a debate about optics, foreign policy and the politics behind this type of military operation, Secretary Hegseth shared details of when the strike would take place.
Hegseth then stated, “We are currently clean on OPSEC.” OPSEC stands for operations security.
Previous statements on similar incidents
Hegseth and Waltz have both been extraordinarily critical of Democrats who made similar mistakes with national security information.
“The people we rely on to do dangerous and difficult things for us rely on one thing from us: That we will not … be reckless with the dangerous things they are doing for us,” Hegseth said in 2016, referring to Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. “That’s the national security implications of a private server that’s unsecured.”
Mike Waltz wrote in 2023 that President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan “sent Top Secret messages to Hillary Clinton’s private account. And what did DOJ do about it? Not a damn thing.”
News of military plans being discussed on a commercial messaging app did not appear to put any of those involved in danger of losing their jobs.
“President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated.
