The shocking national security breach within US President Donald Trump’s administration has raised concerns after a leaked Signal group chat revealed minute-by-minute operational details of US airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. The Atlantic, which exposed the fiasco, published additional excerpts on Wednesday, with its editor warning that the leak could have had deadly consequences for American pilots.
“If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests — or someone merely indiscreet, and with access to social media — the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on their strongholds,” wrote The Atlantic’s top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg.
“The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic.”
“Experts have repeatedly told us that use of a Signal chat for such sensitive discussions poses a threat to national security. As a case in point, Goldberg received information on the attacks two hours before the scheduled start of the bombing of Houthi positions. If this information—particularly the exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen—had fallen into the wrong hands in that crucial two-hour period, American pilots and other American personnel could have been exposed to even greater danger than they ordinarily would face. The Trump administration is arguing that the military information contained in these texts was not classified—as it typically would be—although the president has not explained how he reached this conclusion,” Goldberg wrote in his report.
A real-time security breach
Goldberg was mistakenly added to the “Houthi PC small group channel” on March 11, where top Trump administration officials, including defense secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Vice President JD Vance, were actively discussing the March 15 strikes.
The leaked messages included precise operational details, including aircraft launch times and weapons deployment:
1144 ET: Hegseth confirmed favorable weather conditions and signaled the go-ahead for the mission.
1215 ET: F-18s launched in the first strike package.
1345 ET: The “trigger-based” strike window opened, indicating the target was confirmed to be at a known location.
1415 ET: The first bombs were set to drop as strike drones reached their targets.
1536 ET: The second wave of F-18 strikes began, alongside Tomahawk missile launches from naval forces.
White House shrugs off alarming leak
Despite the potential risk to American forces, the Trump administration has downplayed the incident.
“There was nothing in there that compromised [national security] and it had no impact on the attack,” President Trump said in an interview Wednesday, attributing the mistake to a staff error. “Somebody in my group either messed up or it’s a bad Signal.”
Trump’s legal team, led by Alina Habba, dismissed concerns over the leak, calling it “something they’re making a big to-do about nothing.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down, describing the controversy as “another hoax written by a Trump-hater.”
Meanwhile, during a Senate hearing Tuesday, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe, both members of the Signal chat, insisted that no classified details had been disclosed.