The Atlantic disclosure of further devastating messages from signal chat groups used by the Trump administration’s most senior security guards lies that nothing is shared between the groups that threaten the safety of US military personnel and women.
The lack of war plans and classified material being shared at a Senate Intelligence Committee Committee hearing Monday from the White House and after ambiguous and avoidant claims from US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses, readers can make up for their own minds.
Despite Hegseth’s anger denial, the leaked exchange of group chats includes details of the war plan, recklessly shared by him prior to the March 15 attack, and perhaps on devices that he and others in the chat were not convinced.
Most damming is the fact that Hegseth sent details before the F-18 and other aircraft participating in the attack.
As Ryan Goodman, a law professor who previously worked for the Pentagon, said after the latest release, “The Atlantic has published signal text with a plan of attack in response to denial of control. I was working for the Pentagon. If this information is not classified, he should introduce the door if Hegseth claims to declare this information.”
The Trump administration has already made the scandal even more serious as two participants in the chat tried to cover up and reduce their negligence due to a shocking operational security breaches, including one in Moscow at the time.
On the simplest level, pilots who flew on these strikes should be rightly furious that the most senior civilian defense officials have harmed them.
“If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests, or simply ignored and accompanied by access to social media, Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprising attack on their base.
The questions that need to be answered are why I agree to participate in conversations on such platforms, including the number of people who served in the US military, including the Director of National Intelligence, Tarshi Gabbard, National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, Vice President, JD Vance and Hegses.
They all recognize not only strict rules regarding operational security (OPSEC in military term), but also the absolute necessity to protect the lives of the people you serve.
A strong suspicion expressed by many commentators is that the group, like other senior officials in the Trump administration, uses services such as signals to avoid surveillance, despite the possibility of violating federal laws relating to record-keeping.
In other words, life was casually at risk, reducing another important responsibility of the best office: accountability.
What happens next is important.
In normal circumstances and in previous times, Hegses and Waltz were expected to resign soon. Hegses shares waltz for the shocking Sloppy about security, with reasonable observers deemed war plans as details and lying about what they did.
But whether they will resign, or be resigned by a dysfunctional president, or be rejected, or equally hostile to the concept that he must be accountable is an open question.
What is clear about the already shocking US allies is that it cannot be considered true individually or as a group, not just intelligent and other sensitive material that it is insecure in the hands of Trump’s senior security guards.
