Atlantic releases entire Signal chat showing detailed US attack plans against Houthis
Text chain reveals details of US operation including start time of planned killing of Yemeni militant
The Atlantic on Wednesday released the entire Signal chat among senior national security officials, showing that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop – before the men and women flying those attacks against Yemen’s Houthis this month on behalf of the United States were airborne.
The disclosure follows two intense days during which leaders of President Donald Trump’s intelligence and defence agencies have struggled to explain how details – that current and former US officials have said would have been classified – wound up on an unclassified Signal chat that included Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said no classified information was posted to the Signal chat.
Republican Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he and Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat, plan to send a letter to the Trump administration requesting an inspector general investigation into the use of Signal. They seek a classified briefing with a top administration official “who can speak to the facts” of the episode.
The chat was also notable for who it excluded: the only military attendee of the principals committee, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.