Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly texted the editor of The Atlantic key details of the U.S. plan to bomb Houthi targets across Yemen — including weapons used, targets, and timing — two hours ahead of the attacks.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the magazine, was included on a text chain on the encrypted messaging application Signal that also appeared to be used by such senior Trump administration officials as Vice President Vance, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Hegseth.
In the stunning report, Goldberg claimed Waltz connected with him on Signal on March 11 and two days later was invited to join a chain called the “Houthi PC small group,” in which they discussed strikes against the Houthi militant group in Yemen which began on March 15 — seemingly unaware of the journalist’s presence in the group.
He wrote that he initially had strong doubts the text group was real, “because I could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans.”
Goldberg also said that he “could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include him in the discussions with senior U.S. officials.
He said he realized the text chain could be real after the person who was supposedly Hegseth messaged to the group that the first detonations in Yemen would be felt in two hours, at 1:45 p.m., which was in line with what took place.
Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed the message chain was authentic.
“This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” wrote Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council. “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”
