Trump Administration's Yemen War Plans Leaked via Signal Chat

Accidental Journalist Access to War Chat

• journalistic access to a Signal group chat used by top Trump National Security officials planning military strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen.
• 🚨 The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly added to the chat, which was initially set to auto-delete messages after one week.
• ⚖️ The use of an unsecured app for war deliberations raised legal alarms due to federal recordkeeping rules for war planning.

Casual Coordination of Military Operations

• 🗺️ Senior Trump aides casually discussed pending military operations, assigning key portfolios to officials like Mike Waltz, Mike Need him for State, Andy Baker for VP, Joe Kent, and Scott B Pete Hegseth.
• 📧 While classified planning occurred in secure systems, Signal was used to coordinate public-facing decisions and updates.
• 💬 Discussions included potential oil price spikes, protecting international trade lanes, and active intelligence work on Houthi leadership.

Strategic Messaging and Political Optics

• 🎯 Officials focused on political optics and messaging, considering factors beyond military objectives, such as Gaza, Ukraine, and the economy.
• 🗣️ There was a stated intent to restore freedom of navigation and reestablish deterrence, with pointed criticism of the Biden administration's perceived failures.
• 🇪🇺 European navies were deemed incapable of securing the Red Sea, with the US expected to handle strikes and then build European defense capabilities.

Execution and Post-Strike Celebration

• ✅ The go-ahead for strikes was given, with F18s and strike drones cleared for launch, including timings, targets, and launch windows discussed in plain text.
• 💥 Drones were on target, Tomahawks were fired, and operational security was confirmed on the civilian app, even as a journalist observed.
• 🎉 Post-strike, the team at Mar-a-Lago received praise, with confirmation messages and celebratory emojis exchanged, highlighting a live military operation coordinated and celebrated on an unsecured platform.