Trump officials texted Yemen bombing plans to group chat in secure app that included journalist
Washington, Mar 25 (AP): Top national security officials for US President Donald Trump, including his defence secretary, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online on Monday.
The National Security Council said the text chain "appears to be authentic".
Trump initially told reporters he was not aware that the highly sensitive information had been shared, two-and-a-half hours after it was reported. He later appeared to joke about the breach.
The material in the text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing", editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.
It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security.
The US has conducted airstrikes against the Houthis since the group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.
Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15, the US began launching a series of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
The National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking into how a journalist's number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat.
In addition to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, it included Vice-President J D Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence.
Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump's national security advisor, who was also in the group chat.
Hegseth in his first comments on the matter attacked Goldberg as “deceitful” and a “discredited so-called journalist” without offering further explanation. He did not shed light on why Signal was being used to discuss the sensitive operation or how Goldberg ended up on the message chain.
“Nobody was texting war plans and that's all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said in an exchange with reporters after landing in Hawaii on Monday as he makes his way to the Asia Pacific on his first overseas travel as defense secretary.
In a statement late on Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the president still has the “utmost confidence” in Waltz and the national security team.
Earlier on Monday, Trump told reporters, “I don't know anything about it. You're telling me about it for the first time.” He added that The Atlantic was “not much of a magazine.”
By early evening, the president jokingly brushed it aside. He amplified a social media posting from Elon Musk spotlighting a conservative satirical news site article with the cutting headline: “4D Chess: Genius Trump Leaks War Plans to The Atlantic Where No One Will Ever See Them".
Government officials have used Signal for organisational correspondence, but it is not classified and can be hacked. Privacy and tech experts say the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging and voice call app is more secure than conventional texting.
The sharing of sensitive information comes as Hegseth's office has just announced a crackdown on leaks of sensitive information, including the potential use of polygraphs on defence personnel to determine how reporters have received information.
Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why the defence secretary posted war operational plans on an unclassified app.
The administration's handling of the highly sensitive information was swiftly condemned by Democratic lawmakers with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer calling for a full investigation.
The handling of national defence information is strictly governed by law under the century-old Espionage Act, including provisions that make it a crime to remove such information from its “proper place of custody” even through an act of gross negligence.
The justice department in 2015 and 2016 investigated whether former secretary of state Hillary Clinton broke the law by communicating about classified information with her aides on a private email server she set up, though the FBI ultimately recommended against charges and none were brought.
In the Joe Biden administration, some officials were given permission to download Signal on their White House-issued phones, but were instructed to use the app sparingly, according to a former national security official who served in the Democratic administration.
The official, who requested anonymity to speak about methods used to share sensitive information, said Signal was most commonly used to communicate what they internally referred to as “tippers” to notify someone when they were away from the office or travelling overseas that they should check their “high side” inbox for a classified message.
The app was sometimes also used by officials during the Biden administration to communicate about scheduling of sensitive meetings or classified phone calls when they were outside the office, the official said.
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Kerala Chief Secy speaks out against 'being labelled black'
Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 26 (PTI): Kerala Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan has spoken out about the colour and gender bias she has faced and its continued presence in society, sparking a debate on social media with many people showing their support.
What prompted the Chief Secretary to ignite the social debate was a comment made by someone comparing her work with that of her husband and predecessor V Venu by saying "it is as black as my husband's was white."
Hurt by the comment, Muraleedharan had put up a Facebook post about it but later deleted it because she was "flustered by the flurry of responses".
"I am reposting it because certain well-wishers said that there were things that needed to be discussed. I agree. So here goes, once again," she said in her post, which garnered over 1,000 reactions and has been commented upon and shared hundreds of times.
In the FB post on Tuesday night, Muraleedharan also shared how she grew up feeling like she was worth less because of her dark skin. It was only later, with her children's help, that she realised black is "beautiful."
Speaking to a TV channel on Wednesday, she said that society needs to change its attitudes and overcome these biases. According to her, this change must begin at home and in schools.
She further said the comparison with her husband was "unexpected" and it was Venu who encouraged to put up her FB post against it again. "He is the one who gave me the courage to do so," she said.
She added that, being in government, she was in a better position to bring attention to the issue, which was another reason for speaking out.
She also felt that the comparison not only referred to her dark complexion but carried a "value connotation" about the current governance being "black". "Therefore, I thought that we need to 'call it out'," she told the channel.
While she refused to tell the channel who made the comparative comment, she said the individual has not responded subsequently.
She said that she was getting a lot of responses regarding her post, some asking why she was reacting, while some others sharing their similar experiences.
"Those who have not faced such a bias, think it is a small issue. But, it is a big deal for those who have faced it. It is something which has questioned their identity and worthiness," Muraleedharan said.
Her solution to the issue is to "turn it on its head" and to say -- "yes I am black. Black is seven times beautiful."
She said that she was aware of instances where dark-skinned people have not been considered for jobs, especially where personality is a requirement, "unless they show a great amount of oomph".
"So, just like the glass ceiling exists for women, there is colour bias or discrimination at various levels also," she said.
Muraleedharan said that, as per her nature, she gets hurt initially by such things, but for a short time and then she quickly forgets it. "That is why I am able to move forward in life," she added.
She also referred to the support she got from her children and how they helped to change how she saw herself.
"It is a great experience when your children give you the courage to express yourself. Many people have told me. I am happy that our younger generation has persons like these," she said.
Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, shared her post with the comment -- "Salute dear Sarada Muraleedharan. Every word you have written is heart-touching. It deserves to be discussed. I too had a dark-skinned mother."
State General Education Minister V Sivankutty also backed Muraleedharan's "courageous response" and emphasised that discrimination based on skin colour has no place in a progressive Kerala.
In her FB post, she said that in the last seven months, since she replaced her husband as chief secretary, there has been a "relentless parade" of comparisons with him, and she had become "quite inured" to it.
"It was about being labelled black (with that quiet sub-text of being a woman), as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of. Black is as black does. Not just black the colour, but black the ne'er do good, black the malaise, the cold despotism, the heart of darkness," she said in her post.
She further questioned why black was vilified when it was the "all pervasive truth of the universe"..
The chief secretary also shared a childhood memory of her, as a four-year-old, asking her mother whether she could put her back in the womb and bring her out again "all white and pretty".
Growing up, it led to her feeling like a lesser person for not being fair, which had to be compensated somehow, she said in her post. But her children, who "gloried in their black heritage", changed her point of view.
"Till my children. Who gloried in their black heritage. Who kept finding beauty where I noticed none. Who thought that black was awesome. Who helped me see. That black is beautiful. That black is gorgeousness. That I dig black," she said.
