U.S. officials mistakenly include journalist in Yemen strike planning chat

Investing.com -- A group of top Trump administration officials, including U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, inadvertently included a journalist in a messaging group where they were discussing military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis. The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed this information in a report on Monday.

Goldberg discovered he was mistakenly invited on March 13 to a secure chat group on the Signal messaging app, named the "Houthi PC small group." Within this group, national security adviser Mike Waltz instructed his deputy Alex Wong to form a "tiger team" responsible for coordinating U.S. action against the Houthis.

On March 15, U.S. President Donald Trump initiated a continuing series of large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Houthis. The strikes were in response to the group’s attacks on Red Sea shipping. Trump has also issued a warning to Iran, the main supporter of the Houthis, to immediately cease backing the group.

Just before the strikes started, Hegseth posted details about the operational plan in the chat group. According to Goldberg, this included information on targets, the weapons the U.S. planned to use, and the sequencing of the attack. Goldberg chose not to disclose the specifics of what he called the "shockingly reckless" use of the Signal chat to organize the strike.

When asked for a comment, the Defense Department directed a request to the National Security Council (NSC). NSC spokesman Brian Hughes confirmed that the chat group seemed to be genuine.

Hughes said, "At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security." The issue of how the journalist was mistakenly added to the group is currently under review.

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