In a stunning revelation Monday, The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat earlier this month that included some of the Trump administration’s most senior officials — including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — as they discussed sensitive plans to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen.
The group chat, titled “Houthi PC small group,” appeared to refer to a Principals Committee, a high-level national security coordination group. The thread reportedly included exact weapons packages, attack timelines, and target locations — information Goldberg described as so sensitive that its disclosure could endanger U.S. personnel if accessed by foreign adversaries.
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The National Security Council confirmed to the New York Post that the messages “appear to be authentic” and acknowledged that an “inadvertent number” had been added to the encrypted thread.
“The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials,” the NSC said in a statement. “The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our service members or our national security.”
According to Goldberg, he received a Signal connection request from an account labeled “Mike Waltz” — the name of Trump’s National Security Adviser — on March 11. Two days later, he was added to the group chat. The thread reportedly included, among others:
- Vice President JD Vance
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio
- Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
- CIA Director John Ratcliffe
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
- National Security Adviser Mike Waltz
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Initially skeptical of the thread’s authenticity, Goldberg said he suspected it might be a hoax or disinformation ploy. But when Hegseth posted specific operational details, including a 1:45 p.m. ET strike time on March 15, Goldberg waited in his car and monitored news sources. Just minutes later, explosions were reported in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital.
“The Signal chat group, I concluded, was almost certainly real,” Goldberg wrote. He quietly left the group, which triggered a notification to the creator — but he said no one reached out to question his presence.
Goldberg detailed that officials discussed policy concerns, timing, and messaging around the strike. Vice President Vance reportedly expressed concern that the operation might contradict Trump’s message to European allies to shoulder more of their own defense responsibilities.
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“There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices,” Vance reportedly wrote, while ultimately deferring to consensus.
Hegseth replied, “Nobody knows who the Houthis are — which is why we need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.”
On March 15, shortly after the attack, Goldberg said the chat erupted in congratulatory messages, just before President Trump posted on Truth Social confirming the strike:
“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated,” Trump wrote. “We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.”
The revelation has sparked bipartisan alarm over what appears to be a severe breach of operational security. Democratic Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, condemned the incident, “If true, this represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” Reed said. “Military operations need to be handled with utmost discretion… The carelessness shown by President Trump’s cabinet is stunning and dangerous.”
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There has been no public response from the White House, Hegseth, or other officials mentioned in the report.
The Houthis, an Iranian-backed militant group based in Yemen, have carried out repeated attacks on commercial vessels and U.S. military assets in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, citing support for Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Trump administration has formally designated them a terrorist organization, and President Trump has directly blamed Iran for supporting their operations.
The NSC has launched a review into how Goldberg’s number was added to the Signal thread and whether further security protocols need to be implemented. Meanwhile, questions swirl about the administration’s use of unencrypted third-party platforms to coordinate classified military operations.
“I could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans,” Goldberg wrote.
As investigations unfold, the incident raises troubling concerns about internal communications discipline, operational secrecy, and the risk of accidental leaks in high-level national security decisions.
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