Post No. 3,070 - US administration “own goal” security leak

In a staggering misstep, US administration officials invited a journalist to a group chat on an encrypted, but unsecured, system which subsequently discussed details of military operations - resulting in very strong, adverse reactions. Links follow, but ... where was the current US president during all this? Also, subsequently passwords for key US officials were found on line, and note this assessment that the leak is “a classic case of ‘shadow IT’. It shows why security systems need to be easy to use”.

• Reporting, beginning with the original news report (which is behind a paywall so I have not seen it fully, but I am including it for those who can access it), includes:    
• “The [current US president] Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans”   https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/[current-US-president]-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/   “U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.”   By Jeffrey  Goldberg      Subsequently the full message thread was released - see here, here, and here.
  
• “White House inadvertently texted top-secret Yemen war plans to journalist”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/24/journalist-trump-yemen-war-chat   “In extraordinary blunder top [current US administration] cabinet members added Atlantic editor to chat discussing strikes on H_____s”      and   “‘Holy crap on steroids!’: Top [current US adminstration] officials exposed in shocking, sloppy military security blunder”   https://youtu.be/pvUemlDoaok      and   “[current US administration] officials texted war plans to a group chat in a secure app that included a journalist”   https://apnews.com/article/war-plans-[current-US-administration]-hegseth-atlantic-230718a984911dd8663d59edbcb86f2a      and   “Pete Hegseth Sent Secret War Plans to Journalist by Accident”   https://www.newsweek.com/[current-US-administration]-secret-h____i-war-plans-goldberg-hegseth-2049762      and   “Staggering security breach after journalist is included in [current US] admin group chat outlining plans to bomb H_____s in Yemen”   https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/[current-US-adminsitration]-h_____s-yemen-signal-atlantic-waltz-hegseth-rubio-b2720751.html   “President’s national security team used an encrypted messaging app to talk about a planned strike on H____i militants — and accidentally included a prominent journalist in their group chat”      and   “[current US] admin sent journalist classified US plan for Yemen strikes”   https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250324-white-house-confirms-journalist-was-sent-classified-war-plan      and   “‘A shocking breach’: [current US administration] officials leak Yemen attack plans in Signal chat”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/24/a-shocking-breach-[current-US-administration]-officials-leak-military-attacks-to-the-atlantic      

• Analysis/commentary includes:   “Stunning Signal leak reveals depths of [current US] administration’s loathing of Europe”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/25/stunning-signal-leak-reveals-depths-of-[current-US]-administrations-loathing-of-europe      and   “Hegseth’s Own Words Come Back to Haunt Him After Texting War Plans”   https://newrepublic.com/post/193099/pete-hegseth-text-war-plans-group-chat   “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to a journalist in a jaw-dropping error”      and   “Political uproar over [current US administration] national security team's Signal chat app leak”   https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cg70xgxl3vmt      and   “[Current US president] in World of Hell as Espionage Act Re-Surfaces”   Legal AF by MeidasTouch   https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595?i=1000700784440   “The [current US] Administration used a third party app that could be hacked by our enemies, to communicate about recent secret war plans this month against the H____is and Iran before the bombing began, and added by accident the Editor and Chief of the Atlantic magazine to the chain, in likely violation of the Espionage Act. Michael Popok reports.”      and   “Exploitable flaws: what US adversaries could learn from White House security failure”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/25/key-takeaways-us-security-leak-[current-US]-administration   “Hostile intelligence agencies are likely to pore over details revealed in chat group planning for Yemen strikes”      and   “Signalgate: violating national security”   https://snyder.substack.com/p/signalgate-violating-national-security   “in order to violate rights”   by Timothy Snyder      and   “Did the [current US president’s] White House cross legal lines in the ‘Signalgate’ debacle?”   https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-white-house-cross-legal-lines-signalgate-debacle-rcna198058   “A variety of Democrats have said the White House’s national security scandal involved “blatantly illegal” misconduct. It’s worth appreciating the details.”      and   “Judge Boasberg Assigned To SignalGate Lawsuit”   https://meidasnews.com/news/judge-boasberg-assigned-to-signalgate-lawsuit   This is the Judge handling the deportation of Venezuelans without due process case     
  
• See also this legal analysis, and this.     
  

• The following, a few days before this leak, should also be noted:   “Pentagon announces investigation into leaks that could include lie detector tests”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-announces-investigation-leaks-polygraph-tests-pete-hegseth/      

• Reactions include:      very alarmed allies - see also this;   “Pete Hegseth & [the current US vice president] ACCIDENTALLY LEAKED WAR PLANS TO JOURNALIST w/ No Security Clearance!!!”   https://youtu.be/Tc2doY_CpkM      and   ““Heads should roll”: Congress erupts over stunning [current US] admin leak”   https://www.axios.com/2025/03/24/atlantic-yemen-signal-hegseth-jeffrey-goldberg      and   “Outrage after White House accidentally texts journalist war plans: ‘Huge screw-up’”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/24/journalist-[current-US-president]-yemen-war-chat-reaction   “Security leak triggers bipartisan anger after Atlantic reveals officials inadvertently broadcast highly sensitive military plans”      and   “‘Heads must roll’: Democrats pounce on White House’s latest national security scandal”   https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/heads-must-roll-democrats-pounce-white-houses-latest-national-security-rcna197949   “Those hoping to see Democrats take the “Signalgate” controversy seriously didn’t have to wait long. Hakeem Jeffries said the story “shocks the conscience.””      and   “[the current US president] backs Mike Waltz in the wake of the White House’s national security debacle”   https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/[current-US-president]-backs-mike-waltz-wake-white-houses-national-security-debacle-rcna197969   “While defending his national security adviser, the president did something unusual: [the current US president] implicitly acknowledged that Mike Waltz did something wrong.”      and   “Democrats call on senior US security officials to resign over Signal chat leak”   https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/democrats-want-us-officials-to-resign-over-signal-chat-leak/rojczlto7   “The White House has downplayed an incident in which a journalist gained access to a US administration encrypted group chat discussing an attack on H____i rebels in Yemen.”      and   “Mike Waltz claims ‘full responsibility’ for Signal chat group leaked to journalist”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/25/mike-waltz-yemen-plans-breach-signal-group   “[US Presidential] adviser says he can’t explain how Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg’s number was included in the group chat”      and   “‘But her emails’: Trump White House scandal puts Hillary Clinton’s server in a new light”   https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/but-her-emails-trump-signal-scandal-hillary-clinton-rcna198041   “Ten years after Republicans pretended to care about Hillary Clinton’s emails, Team [current US president]’s tech security failure puts the Democrat’s story in a new light.”     
  
• A Democratic Senator has called for resignations (Meidas Touch Network exclusive);      another US Senator called for resignation of a “[expletive deleted] liar”;      a general described the principals in the meeting as primary school children;      the fact that a choice is being made to NOT act against those responsible is shown by the different treatment to a DHS official who made the same sort of mistakes about an ICE raid some months ago;      there has been a bipartisan demand from US Senators for the Pentagon to investigate the incident;      Canada has said the response threatens the five eyes agreement;   
  
• “[the current US president]'s COVER UP of War Plan Leaks BACKFIRES in HIS FACE”   https://youtu.be/Qk1VaW65GtE   (and one of his claims seems to not be believed by him)      and   “Karoline Leavitt Downplays National Security Blunder”   https://meidasnews.com/news/karoline-leavitt-downplays-national-security-blunder   “Instead of acknowledging the issue, Leavitt has worked to deflect.”      and   “Hegseth’s Denial of War Plans Leak Crumbles Under Community Note Fact-Check”   https://meidasnews.com/news/hegseths-denial-of-war-plans-leak-crumbles-under-community-note-fact-check   “Official DOD Rapid Response account hit with brutal 5 point takedown”      and  
• continued attempts at obfuscation - see also this, and this;      nonsense claims of a hoax;      semantics;     
  

• And a satirical reaction: “Hegseth’s latest headline”   https://robertreich.substack.com/p/hegseths-latest-headline     
  

This may make the US Secretary of Defense’s position - and that of at least one other official - untenable, but I suspect the Vice President may still retain his position ... this report suggests no-one will face consequences ...

I will likely add more links over the rest of this week.

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below, and there’s also other options. 

Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here. 

(Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear)  

Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).

#PsychicABetterWorld   and  

Copyright © Kayleen White 2007-2025     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-ShareAlike basis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/