A US journalist was unintentionally included in a group conversation where Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and other high officials discussed planned operations against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the White House acknowledged on Monday.
President Donald Trump launched the strikes on March 15, but in a surprising security breach, The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he had received hours of advance knowledge via the Signal group conversation.
“The message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.
The White House stated that Trump “continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team,” following his earlier statement that he knew nothing about the problem.
Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor with little expertise operating a large organisation like the Pentagon, denied responsibility for the security lapse when he talked with reporters late Monday.
He instead attacked Goldberg, claiming that “nobody was texting war plans,” despite the White House acknowledging the breach.
Additionally, Hegseth referred to Goldberg as “a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.”
Content retrieved from: https://www.firstpost.com/world/trump-administration-scrambles-after-journalist-added-to-sensitive-military-group-chat-13874174.html.
