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© 2025 AFPTop Trump gov't officials accidentally text plans for Yemen strikes to journalist
By Aurélia END WASHINGTON©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
104 Comments
Underworld
What a clown show!
theFu
Incompetence.
Pure Incompetence.
Why are US military using commercial, open to anyone, chat services at all? Ah ... more incompetence. I worked in telecom. They should have secure communications devices that cannot reach any one who isn't part of the secured network. This is done every day. It is service offered to any company. The company where I worked had 25K devices that could only communicate between people and systems on the secure network, nobody else. That was deployed in 2005, so it isn't a new service.
Total Incompetence.
I'veSeenFootage
Another day, another fantastic failure in the Trump admin. There is a lesson to be learned for all countries around the world here: even setting aside the moral arguments against their policies, the main issue with the far-right politicians is that they are not only corrupt, but also deeply, thoroughly incompetent. This is why a far-right government has never, and will never, produce a flourishing state. It's always just stupidity, misery and failure.
funkymofo
Trump administration is like dystopian political satire.
plasticmonkey
Remember, folks, this is what the American people voted for in a landslide mandate wipeout victory.
Winning!
wallace
Vice President JD Vance advised against a military strike in Yemen, according to a secret Signal chat about the proposed operation with President Donald Trump's national security team. pence claimed less American vessels use the route. Vance hates Europe.
Bob Fosse
This is what happens when you hire people based on their TV appearance instead of their experience.
patkim
Absolutely appalling! They're just lucky that this journalist had the moral compass not to sell these plans, or release them publicly. This type of blunder would surely get anyone fired. This is what happens when you hire a bunch of amateurs. Hegseth himself is an alcoholic with no real experience running anything. Vance probably spends more time on applying his eyeliner than on being properly trained on how to handle sensitive information. Of course, it all starts with Trump. The POTUS is one who should know how to hire people based on their skills and experiences; not on their level of allegiance to him.
ArtistAtLarge
What a train wreck.
Yrral
Backstabbing American busted
Bob Fosse
Hegseth has been particularly vocal in the past about sever punishment for intelligence leaks. I wonder if he still feels the same way.
“If it was anyone other than Hillary Clinton, they would be in jail right now,” Hegseth said in 2016 while a Fox News anchor. “Because the assumption is in the intelligence community, if you are using unclassified means, there is ... likelihood that foreign governments are targeting those accounts.”
chotto_2
Noone ever saw such a texty text; so tremendous.
Someone pkease remove this inept reality TV clown from offive
Chico3
I'm not surprised by this. Vote in a clown, hire a circus. The journalist is the smart one.
buchailldana
And once more the true nature of these zealots is revealed.
Vance is even more deranged than Trump
Peter Neil
read it. some of hegseth's texts:
"...I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are – which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.”
“VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC."
wallace
The Houthi"s have full access to the internet just as all terrorist groups do which they use for hacking and recruiting.
Jimizo
Incompetent or back on the booze?
Both?
JJE
Storm in a teacup. Doesn't sound anything as serious as the war planning documents leaked last October.
The level of selective outrage is real.
Express sister
A drunken idiot added a reporter because he is too incompetent to do his job?
plasticmonkey
Remember how many months and how much outrage were expended on Hillary’s email server? And the incessant calls to “lock her up”?
I do.
And this is far more serious and consequential. They talking about “warfighting” plans here.
patkim
How were they allowed to bring in phones in a secured compartment where they discuss these war plans? It is really disrespectful and dangerous to the men and women serving in the military. No one during all of that texting and monitoring of that messaging thread, noticed that the journalist was mistakenly added to it?
plasticmonkey
I imagine they’ve got more sense than chief “warrior” Pete Hegseth.
Bob Fosse
Hegseth has already claimed it is a hoax and tried to discredit the journalist. It would have gone easier on him if he manned up and admitted the mistake. This is not going away.
JJE
Biden administration had leaked actual warfighting plans last year, as opposed to a few harmless text messages - we know that because they were actually published by Iran, unlike here. And that email server was far more outrageous.
Nathaw
"The message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain," National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said."
Imagine Joe Biden admin has leaked this information, there would be left, right and center demanding of impeachment for sleepy Joe. There are shortage of eggs in US at the moment. However there are oversupply of Chicken Hawks in Trump administration. There is no single one who has served in military including Trump who was a draft dodger during his prime. Trump and his admin were more competent during his first term of 2016 to 2020.
And a person identified as "S M" -- possibly Trump adviser Stephen Miller -- argued that "if the U.S. successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return."
In fact, Red Sea lane is so narrow for US aircraft carrier. Sailing US air craft carrier in the bottle neck of red sea lane likes Sumo wrestler sitting on the baby stroller before boarding. EU nations need that sea route more than US. Current operating cost a lot more that reward from recovering Red Sea lane for shipping.
Houthi drone cost a few thousands. One intercepting missile from Aircraft carrier cost more than a million. USS Harry Truman costs between $6 million to $8 million per day to operate. Economically it has been burning millions for combating the enemy who are wearing slippers without helmet. That carrier deserves better than that.
Express sister
The GOP response to being caught red-handed is to say "no. I am right. And you are evil for asking questions."
nishikat
Hegseth talks like he's on Fox. Why did he want this job? He could make millions on Fox.
stormcrow
Amateur Hour at the White House.
Very sloppy and brought to you by the people responsible for U.S. national security.
nishikat
In that case Hegseth is even worse.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The team that can't shoot straight. MAGA senators and representatives will be like "The Atlantic magazine? Never heard of it."
Bob Fosse
Hegseth “Benghazi? Hold my beer!”
Blacklabel
and Goldberg would have been executed for treason.
moving on.
lincolnman
As if anyone is surprised by this...
This guy was unqualified to be a Fox News talking head - and you can't get more vapid than that...
He's unqualified to clean the latrines at the Pentagon...
Just like he is with our economy, Trump is taking our military down the drain...
Just what his Master Putin ordered him to do...
Arrrgh-Type
In a sane world, multiple resignations would be immediately forthcoming based on this laughable breach of opsec. Instead, we'll get the same tired excuses from the same usual suspects over and over again.
Now, imagine that these guys are in charge of an actual shooting war against a foe that can really strike back. It should make the US think twice about any military activity on the globe, but as shown by his own comments, the president's completely checked out at this point. What an incredible state of affairs.
nishikat
WRONG!
Valerie Plame
President Elon and Trump are a bunch of nutcases who cannot hire
Blacklabel
The attack was highly effective and everything was executed flawlessly by our military. All that really matters now.
Lessons learned for next time as far as communications.
plasticmonkey
"You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again...This is a guy who peddles in garbage...Nobody was texting war plans and that's all I have to say."
—Pete Hegseth, just now
I think this sous is going to be in major trouble. Even the White House is contradicting Warrior Pete.
And Goldberg has far more credibility than Hegseth.
plasticmonkey
Pete should have known this before becoming DS.
What a punk recruit move.
Bob Fosse
Its cute you think this is going to be swept under the rug.
Mocheake
This administration's theme song: "Send in the Clowns" Won't need to wait long to see them as they're already there in droves.
Simon Foston
JJEToday 09:25 am JST
I knew we'd get these "but the Dems..." excuses popping up.
lincolnman
Well, give Pete credit for one thing - he knows how to suck up to his boss...
Given his classified stash kept in boxes beside his toilet, Trump obviously admires people that are sloppy with our nation's most sensitive secrets...
Expect tomorrow the rest of Trump's cabinet of DEI deplorables to start leaving classified at restaurants and stores....most located next to the Russian and Chinese embassies...
browny1
Trump admin fans can spin this anyway they want, but it will never detract from the utter hypocrisy and incompetency on display.
If this was scripted verbatim in a Hollywood movie, people would say "Aww, comeon you can come up with something better than this".
It's less than 4 weeks ago a Russian reporter "sneaked" into the Oval Office for the Trump / Zelensky - bypassing all protocol & security measures.
Astounding lapses.
Jimizo
From someone who was employed at Fox News.
HopeSpringsEternal
No secure messaging app in reality, why Whitehouse's now using secure Starlink services for its email services.
NSA Waltz may be toast, but many insiders consider him too much of a war hawk anyway, so possibly a setup, manipulating Goldberg at the Atlantic to do so.
Houthis have no serious military capacity, now getting hammered by US military, something Biden Admin failed to do in earnest post Oct 7th. Houthis causing huge economic damage to global supply chains = inflation.
Mocheake
On a chat site! Just include anyone without vetting. Incredible! An officer would be looking at a court-martial and I would be looking at serious time in the brig and a dishonorable discharge if I had done this while in the military. This guy will just get to say Oops and move on and they'll blame everyone and anyone. That's what happens when you have wholly unqualified people in these positions from the top all the way down. MAGA and their supporters don't have a damn clue.
lincolnman
How about a daily dose of MAGA hypocrisy....
"In 2016, Hegseth told Fox News, "If it was anyone other than Hillary Clinton, they would be in jail right now... because the assumption is in the intelligence community, if you are using unclassified means, there is likelihood that foreign governments are targeting those accounts."
"Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth lambasted Biden for "flippantly" mishandling classified documents and suggested that if he had behaved similarly, he would have expected to be "court-martialed."
"In January 2023, Rubio, also appeared on Fox News, where he said, "Any time documents have been removed from their proper setting -- it's a problem, I don't care who did it."
"In August 2022 Stephen Miller, now Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy who was also in the Signal chat group, also posted his thoughts on X reacting to the Clinton email scandal. "Foreign adversaries could easily hack classified ops & intel in real time from other sides of the globe," he said."
"Only two weeks ago, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced a crackdown on leaks within the intelligence community. "Any unauthorized release of classified information is a violation of the law and will be treated as such," she said in a press release."
So when is Hegseth going to be fired and court-martialed? About the same time Melania invites Stormy Daniels and E. Jean Carroll over for White House tea...
Just a bunch of lying, incompetent, hypocrites...
HopeSpringsEternal
Expect a secure Starlink Messaging App to roll out soon for National Security Types, as satellites are far more secure than regular servers.
Fortunately, it's a big nothing burger for most, hacking is a big part of the digital world now. Few voters care about the Atlantic except the radical left lunatics.
Everybody remembers recent SolarWinds US Govt. Hack, by Russia, exponentially more damaging than this and yet very few US citizens are even aware of this hack.
patkim
At the very least, a congressional hearing and investigation must be done. As with any blunder or mistake, especially one which concerns national security, they need to investigate why was this done on Signal, and not the secure lines within the independent Internet server within the White House and the secure compartmented information facility (or scif as it's called). I mean for civilians, Signal is secure, but not for situations calling for the utmost secure lines. And it should be investigated as to who and why was a journalist included. After all, on Signal, they need to be invited. Not anyone can just join themselves. And finally, why didn't anyone notice that he was on.
Typical MAGA flippant response. Remember that security measures are put in place to protect our men and women serving in the military. Any breach in protocol and security could have severe consequences. Even if nothing happened as a result of it (due to the fact that the Goldberg did not disclose the details of the talk to the enemy), it has to be investigated so that it won't happen again. A simple "I promise it won't happen again" won't suffice.
Blacklabel
why would he?
Is he a traitor?
Bob Fosse
If a drunk driver gets home without killing anyone is it a lesson learned and time to move on or is it still a crime?
deanzaZZR
Looking forward to the Signal blast of the China attack plan that Musk was denied. Let's go Pete, load and fire!
Express sister
Do you want to address the rest of patkim's post or nah?
Blacklabel
Hellooooooo strawman!
lesson learned.
Bob Fosse
Wrong. It’s a crime.
lincolnman
Well, Hegseth himself disagrees with you...
"Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth lambasted Biden for "flippantly" mishandling classified documents and suggested that if he had behaved similarly, he would have expected to be "court-martialed."
So does Tulsi Gabbard; "Any unauthorized release of classified information is a violation of the law and will be treated as such,"
So, when does the criminal investigation and court martial start?
Blacklabel
Who “released” or “mishandled” classified information?
Mocheake
The MAGA m.o. on display: shift the blame and move on. They're going to have a hard time doing that on this one but we all know they'll give it their best shot. That's about all they're good at too. "There're going to be mistakes." More like monumental boneheaded gaffes. The only thing missing from these clowns is the makeup and big nose: The new Ringling Brothers, running a government like a clown show and coming to ruin your way of life as soon as possible.
Express sister
Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense.
ClippetyClop
Was that drunk Hegseth the group admin who added Goldberg? What time during his nightly binge did he create the group?
Why didn't the other incompetent members check who was in the group?
Staggering that these idiots are running a country, but it explains why they are running it so badly.
What a coward. They didn't invite Donald to the group so that they wouldn't have to mute his drip drip of Kremlin / Nazi chat. They then didn't tell him that they got busted.
Blacklabel
Oh ok so no need for any investigation then.
and the proof of this is…what?
A newspaper article by a known Trump hater?
it wasn’t. You didn’t even read the article, did you?
Peter Neil
you can read it straight from the horse's mouth.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/?gift=kPTlqn0J1iP9IBZcsdI5IVJpB2t9BYyxpzU4sooa69M
nishikat
1......2.......3
HEGSETH
That's what you get when the Pentagon is run by a drunk
Mocheake
Hegseth, like his boss Trump, instead of acknowledging the was a serious breach of security, mistakes were made and they're working on fixing the problem, attacks the journalist who got sent the information. Have these people ever heard of owning up to your mistakes and working to fix them? Rhetorical question. We all know the answer.
patkim
You're right. It was Michael Waltz, who is Trump's national security adviser. He'll have to answer for why he did such a thing.
wtfjapan
Trump administration is like dystopian political satire.
kakistocracy
ClippetyClop
I did, you didn't. The article doesn't say who was the group admin, only the contributors. Not quite the minor victory you hoped for.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/?gift=kPTlqn0J1iP9IBZcsdI5IVJpB2t9BYyxpzU4sooa69M
This clears it all up.
u_s__reamer
This report is just another reminder that Trump's orange clown show will go down in history as the "Keystone Kops" Era of the presidency. We'll soon be reading articles noting that 2025 is exactly the 90th anniversary of "Buzz" Windrip's dictatorship, Sinclair Lewis's prescient, fictional model for what is happening in America in real time today.
nishikat
He will blame it on Biden like the price of eggs.
You use Signal for something like cheating on your spouse (if you are into that kind of thing) and NOT top secret war plans
bass4funk
It was Goldberg
This clears it all up.
https://americasvoice.news/podcast-platforms/
Seems like the story and voices are getting louder.
bass4funk
They did.
Ironically, a journalist RINO tried to bring the President down in his first term.
Well, they did. You won't see it on the lib sites, but the more fair and conservative sites you will.
HopeSpringsEternal
Question remains, does National Security Advisor Waltz survive. My bet is yes, but hard to say how many knives are out inside 1600. He just did an interview with Laura Trump on her new Fox show, so he's got clear goodwill.
rainyday
A bunch of incompetent morons are in charge of the United States.
Not much more to say.
Express sister
That's definitely a thing I didn't say.
It was acknowledged and confirmed by the Trump White House. That's kind of what the article is about.
An article by a reporter who was given classified information by a drunkard former TV host.
nishikat
No....it was the drunk. Only an idiot uses social media to discuss war plans and that is what Trump hired. So we have a drunk that runs the Pentagon and a person with a worm-eaten brain that runs the health department. WOW! What winners. And we have ICE Barbie who is a Russian asset.
nishikat
I'm wondering....would Fox rehire that drunk idiot if Hegseth leaves the Trump nest? That was a stupid career decision to give up those millions for a poorly paid government job
nishikat
It depends on the economy...one important reason why Nixon was brought down was the poor economy at the time from what I remember hearing
I'veSeenFootage
So this is what the US Pravda looks like!
Blacklabel
Yea, he will need to explain how this happened.
So it wasn’t Pete Hegseth at all. Which calls into question all the other supposed “facts” posted here by posters who falsely claimed it was Pete.
nishikat
WRONG!
He's a social media queen and used poor judgement to ALLOW discussing top secret war plans on social media. Bad management and that is what you get when you hire a drunk.
The Drunk allowed it to happen. Bad management
ClippetyClop
'National Security Advisor'. Can't even secure a chat group that he created. Typical incompetence from these infants.
He'll have to do a bit more than 'explain', and you'll have to do a bit more than 'cope'.
plasticmonkey
I smell a rat. Or at least a big, fat squirrel.
Look! There it is!
bass4funk
Looks like a Wombat actually.
plasticmonkey
Goldberg was the group administrator?
And was it Jeffrey Goldberg, or Jonah Goldberg (as you previously claimed)?
lol
Bob Fosse
Wrong.
From the article:
“Hegseth sent information on the strikes, including on "targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing," to the group chat.
"According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 pm eastern time,”
bass4funk
A reporter
Jonah
plasticmonkey
Jonah Goldberg has nothing to do with this story.
Next time better to get the name right before smearing them.
Blacklabel
“Trump’s defense secretary accidentally texts plans for Yemen strikes to journalist”
This headline isnt even accurate to begin with.
nishikat
President Elon has a Drunk running the Pentagon.
Bob Fosse
Neither are stupid but they frequently resort to pretending to be rather than owning up to a situation they don’t like.
wallace
National security leaks from Trump's team. The buck stops with the Commander-in-Chief.
wallace
National security is never discussed on the internet. it's done in secure rooms in the Pentagon or the White House. Hopefully, the have learned a lesson.
ClippetyClop
Disagree. One of them is of particularly low mental caliber and the other just has the mind of a feeble infant.
wallace
Trump's top team rips into America's European allies - saying they 'loathe' having to 'bail out' the 'pathetic free-loaders': Astonishing text messages are leaked in security shambles that saw journalist added to war plans group.
TokyoLiving
Elect a clown, you get a circUS..
XCAndtheband
As usual, the MAGA circus comes out and tries to defend incompetence, because this administration must NEVER be seen doing anything wrong, right? Don’t believe your eyes and ears, everyone.
browny1
Hesgeth's deflection when questioned on this when questioned in Hawaii is pure chicanery.
Rather than just admit there was a break in security methods and we will be working harder on this going forward to "keep Americans safe", just keep up the denial and look more base than Homer Simpson.
Watch on Fox News now for comic relief.
TaiwanIsNotChina
If Trump hadn't already sold all of our classified secrets and war plans to the russians and Chinese, I'd be really pissed off about now.
plasticmonkey
You brought up Jonah Goldberg. I didn't.
The smell of desperation trying to defend Hegseth is overwhelming.
bass4funk
My God, where do you even come up with this garbage, just hilarious. Lol
wallace
Let's not forget Trump had Top Secret documents in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom. He doesn't have much respect for those types of things.
lincolnman
This egregious example of basic security protocol just shows clearly that Trump and his team of amatuer clowns, drunks, perverts, and former convicts are beyond incompetent...
This whole discussion on attacking the Houthis was obviously carried out on NIPR - the unclassified platform. There are several higher classified networks where any sensitive issue like this is required to be taken.
These Morons couldn't even figure that out - something an E1 with two weeks in basic training understands...
What other highly sensitive discussions were they throwing around on an unclassified network?
Hegseth should resign immediately - and a full-scale investigation should be started to fully address and understand the damage caused by this leak - and any other leaks we have yet to uncover...
I mean that is what MAGA-world said in 2016 - and they aren't hypocrites, are they?
plasticmonkey
Anyway, the main point is that the Secretary of Warfighting revealed war plans with Jonah and Jeffrey Goldberg and shouldn't have.