Atlantic publishes entire text chat about U.S. attack on Yemen shared with its editor

The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday released the entire text chat involving senior U.S. national security officials about recent strikes against Yemen's Houthis, a top-secret conversation that had accidentally included the magazine's editor-in-chief.

The full-length disclosure follows two intense days during which senior members of the U.S. intelligence and defence agencies have struggled to explain how details that current and former U.S. officials have said would have been classified wound up on an unclassified chat on the texting app Signal and included Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic's editor-in-chief.

WATCH | Colorado congressman says chat could have easily been intercepted by U.S. rivals: 

U.S. lucky not to be 'mourning dead pilots now,' Democrat says of Signal chat controversy

5 days ago

Duration 0:48

Colorado congressman Jim Himes says chat on Houthi airstrikes accidentally leaked to journalist could have easily been intercepted by U.S. rivals.

Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House's intelligence committee, said at the outset of a hearing on Wednesday that it was conceivable America's geopolitical rivals could have intercepted the contents of the chat and alerted the Houthis.

"It's by the awesome grace of God that we're not mourning dead pilots right now," said Himes.

The magazine's publication of the whole chat showed that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact times of warplane launches, strike packages and targets — before the men and women flying those attacks against the Houthis earlier this month on behalf of the U.S. were airborne. 

Hegseth has refused to say whether he posted classified information on Signal. He is travelling in the Indo-Pacific region and to date has only scoffed at questions, saying he did not reveal "war plans."

Officials again deny classified intel allegations

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe told members of the Senate's intelligence committee on Tuesday that it was up to Hegseth to determine whether the information he was posting was classified or not. 

Gabbard amended her opening statement at the House session to admit "candid and sensitive" information was discussed, but she continued to assert that classified intelligence was not shared, despite the latest revelations.  

Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, though it is not approved for carrying classified information. Signal messages could still be read through access to an unlocked or compromised phone.

Ratcliffe repeated his avowals from the previous day that no classified information was shared.

WATCH | Trump officials have denied classified information was shared:

Trump officials deny classified information was shared in group chat

6 days ago

Duration 3:10

In testimony to Congress on Tuesday, top officials from the Trump administration denied sharing classified information about the Yemen airstrikes in a group chat on the Signal messaging app where a journalist was mistakenly added.

Democrat Joaquin Castro of Texas asserted that as former members of Congress, Ratcliffe and Gabbard had each been privy to sessions reading classified information that was of a much less serious nature than the Houthi airstrikes.

"Y'all know it's a lie," said Castro of their claims. "It's a lie to the country."

FBI Director Kash Patel, also invited to testify at the House committee but not on the Signal chat, said he would not comment on whether the agency would open an investigation into the security breach.

Republican members of the panel largely steered clear of the topic, though Georgia's Austin Scott got officials to confirm that no specific targets or location data were revealed in the Signal chat.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz posted a similar assertion on social media.

Details on fighter jet, sea-based missile launches

What was revealed in the latest Atlantic dispatch was jaw-dropping in its specificity, and includes the type of information that is kept under wraps to protect the operational security of a military strike.

In the group chat, Hegseth posted:

• "1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)"
• "1345: 'Trigger Based' F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)"
• "1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)"
• "1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier 'Trigger Based' targets)"
• "1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts — also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched."
• "MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)"
• "We are currently clean on OPSEC" — that is, operational security.
• "Godspeed to our Warriors."

Several Democrats, as was the case in Tuesday's session, called on Hegseth to resign.

U.S. President Donald Trump launched an ongoing campaign of large-scale military strikes against Yemen's Houthis on March 15 over the group's attacks on Red Sea shipping, and he warned Iran, the Houthis' main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group.

Goldberg was mistakenly invited to the Signal group by Waltz. Trump's national security adviser and the journalist had previously been in contact, but neither side has established yet how it came to be that Goldberg was added to the chat.

White House slams journalist

Trump, Hegseth and Waltz have all described the journalist in pejorative terms and questioned his motives. Democrat Himes said Wednesday he found that disconcerting.

"What do you think the people who work for you learn from that?" he said.

Goldberg said in the preamble to Wednesday's article that the Atlantic was faced with a "dilemma" given the statements of Ratcliffe and Gabbard at the previous day's committee hearing.

"As a general rule, we do not publish information about military operations if that information could possibly jeopardize the lives of U.S. personnel," Goldberg wrote.

Signal is a publicly available app said to be widely used by U.S. government officials. Signal provides encrypted communications, however those messages could still be read through access to an unlocked or compromised phone. It is not approved for carrying classified information.

In interviews and statements since the first Atlantic article on the matter, Trump has downplayed the incident.

"There was no problem, and the attack was a tremendous success," he told Newsmax in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.

The president said that Democrats were latching on to the Signal chat story because the administration has enjoyed "two perfect months."

But questions about the administration's handling of sensitive information have come in for scrutiny and criticism already on other fronts.

It was learned last week that social security numbers were inadvertently released in a document dump related to investigations into high-profile American political assassinations of the 1960s. 

As well, Democrats have accused the administration of improperly allowing billionaire adviser Elon Musk and a team under his auspices access to sensitive government information, as well as some information belonging to American citizens. Musk and members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team were not confirmed to their roles by the Senate.

Between his presidential terms, Trump was indicted after classified documents were alleged to have been found at two of his properties, in Florida and New Jersey. Trump faced charges under the Espionage Act, until a judge controversially dismissed the case. Trump's election win in November essentially killed any chances for federal prosecutors to appeal that decision.

Democrats have accused Trump and Republicans of hypocrisy in their reactions to the Signal chat thus far, given the way they pounced on Democrat Hillary Clinton's handling of emails in a previous administration, which led to a investigation and a statement from then-FBI director James Comey that Clinton had been "extremely careless."