The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg published some of the detailed war plans to which he was given access – apparently by mistake – by Donald Trump's national security team.
The magazine's editor in chief reported earlier this week that national security adviser Mike Waltz had invited him onto a group chat on Signal where defense secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed the plans for a bombing raid on Yemen, and Goldberg said the attack was carried out two hours later – and Goldberg revealed new details after multiple Trump officials testified the information was not classified.
"These statements presented us with a dilemma," Goldberg wrote. "In The Atlantic’s initial story about the Signal chat—the 'Houthi PC small group,' as it was named by Waltz — we withheld specific information related to weapons and to the timing of attacks that we found in certain texts. As a general rule, we do not publish information about military operations if that information could possibly jeopardize the lives of U.S. personnel. That is why we chose to characterize the nature of the information being shared, not specific details about the attacks."
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Goldberg said the statements by Trump, Hegseth, national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe, as well as assertions that he was lying about the content of the Signal texts, led he and his colleagues to conclude that Americans should see the messages to reach their own conclusions.
"At 11:44 a.m. eastern time, Hegseth posted in the chat, in all caps, 'TEAM UPDATE:'" the publication reported. "The text beneath this began, 'TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.' Centcom, or Central Command, is the military’s combatant command for the Middle East. The Hegseth text continues: '1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)' ... '1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s).'"
Goldberg pointed out that the defense secretary revealed those plans on an insecure chat, which included an unknown number that belonged to a journalist, shortly before U.S. troops deployed in hostile territory, with potentially "catastrophic" consequences.
The Hegseth texts reportedly then continued: