Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth faced ridicule after it emerged he was part of a group of Trump officials who texted war plans to a group chat that mistakenly included a journalist — just days after boasting that America no longer “looked like fools.”
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, reported on Monday that he was part of a text chain on the Signal messaging app where details of air strikes in Yemen were discussed along with other highly sensitive national security matters.
A National Security Council spokesperson confirmed that the message chain “appears to be authentic,” and said, “We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”
Democratic lawmakers swiftly condemned it as an “egregious” security breach, and President Donald Trump said he knew “nothing about it.”
More embarrassing still, the incident came after Hegseth on Friday hailed the Trump administration’s professionalism at an event awarding a contract to Boeing to build a next-generation fighter jet.
During a briefing with journalists, Hegseth praised the president for reversing the Biden administration’s decision to scale back the program.
“Under the previous administration, we looked like fools,” Hegseth said. “Not anymore.”
Goldberg reported Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, added him to the war plans group chat.
But it was Hegseth who reportedly texted the group “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing” of American strikes on Yemen set to take place hours later, Goldberg said.
Initially sceptical that he was receiving actual administration plans, Goldberg said he realised the messages were genuine when the bombings took place as the thread had outlined.
Hegseth’s bravado was seized upon on X, formerly Twitter. The consensus appeared to be that his comment three days ago aged like milk.
Hegseth may also have some explaining to do around the cabinet table after Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, last week threatened a crackdown on “any unauthorized release of classified information.”
“Circling back on this,” wrote Sen. Tina Smith (Democrat, Minnesota) on BlueSky with a screengrab of Gabbard’s previously tweeted warning.