WASHINGTON — Top national security officials for President Donald Trump, including his defense secretary, texted war plans for planned military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday. The National Security Council said the text chain "appears to be authentic."
About 2½ hours after it was reported, Trump told reporters he was not aware that the sensitive information was shared.
"I don't know anything about it," Trump said. "You're telling me about it for the first time." He added that The Atlantic was "not much of a magazine."
President Donald Trump greets members of the crowd Monday at a reception celebrating Greek Independence Day in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
The material in the text chain "contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing," editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.
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It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security.
The U.S. conducted airstrikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.
Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15, the U.S. began launching a series of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
The National Security Council said in a statement it was looking into how a journalist's number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat.
Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, who was also in the group chat.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his first comments on the matter attacked Goldberg as “deceitful†and a “discredited so-called journalist†without offering further explanation. He did not shed light on why Signal was being used to discuss the sensitive operation or how Goldberg ended up on the message chain.
“Nobody was texting war plans and that’s all I have to say about that,†Hegseth said in an exchange with reporters after landing in Hawaii on Monday as he began his first trip to the Indo-Pacific as defense secretary.
Government officials use Signal for organizational correspondence, but it is not classified and can be hacked. Privacy and tech experts say the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging and voice call app is more secure than conventional texting.
The sharing of sensitive information comes as Hegseth's office just announced a crackdown on leaks of sensitive information, including the potential use of polygraphs on defense personnel to determine how reporters have received information.
Houthi supporters participate in a funeral procession Monday for Osama Al-rumeitha, a Houthi officer who was reportedly killed in a recent U.S. airstrike, in Sanaa, Yemen.
Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday on why the defense secretary posted war operational plans on an unclassified app.
Democratic lawmakers quickly condemned the breach in protocol. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called for a full investigation.
"This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time," Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a floor speech Monday afternoon.
"If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen," said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was "horrified" by the reports.
Himes said if a lower-ranking official "did what is described here, they would likely lose their clearance and be subject to criminal investigation. The American people deserve answers," which he said he planned to get at Wednesday's previously scheduled committee hearing.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prepares to give a television interview Friday outside the White House in Washington.
Some of the toughest criticism targeted Hegseth, a former Fox News Channel weekend host. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, said on social media that Hegseth, "the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in history, is demonstrating his incompetence by literally leaking classified war plans in the group chat."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to learn more about what happened.
"Obviously, we got to to run it to the ground, figure out what went on there," said Thune, a South Dakota Republican.
The handling of national defense information is strictly governed by law under the century-old Espionage Act, including provisions that make it a crime to remove such information from its "proper place of custody" even through an act of gross negligence.
The Justice Department in 2015 and 2016 investigated whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke the law by communicating about classified information with her aides on a private email server she set up, though the FBI ultimately recommended against charges and none were brought.
In the Biden administration, some officials were given permission to download Signal on their White House-issued phones, but were instructed to use the app sparingly, according to a former national security official who served in the Democratic administration, who requested anonymity.
