Atlantic editor-in-chief added to top-secret group chat
A group chat on the app Signal with several high-ranking Trump administration officials detailing war plans in Yemen was leaked after a journalist was accidentally added to it. Photo courtesy Donald J. Trump Presidential Library.
Ellie Waltman, Copy Editor
The Donald Trump administration faced backlash after an article published in The Atlantic on March 24 revealed that a journalist had inadvertently been added to a Signal group chat between high-ranking officials.
Signal is an American open-source, encrypted messaging service for instant messaging, voice calls and video calls. Its encryption prevents any third party from viewing conversation content or listening in on calls.
“Signal messages and calls cannot be accessed by us or other third parties because they are always end-to-end encrypted, private and secure,” according to the service.
Jeffery Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to a group chat named “Houthi PC small group” on March 14. The group chat of 18 included several high-ranking administration officials including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Top-ranking officials discussed the details of a highly sensitive operation to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen. Following the publication of the article, multiple members of the Trump administration denied discussing war plans via direct messaging. Goldberg published a follow-up article in The Atlantic on March 26, revealing all the messages sent between the high-ranking officials.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to preserve all messages exchanged in the Signal group chat on March 27, according to The Guardian.
Three out of four Americans — and 60% of Republicans — say that the Trump administration’s use of a Signal group chat to discuss military strikes is a “very” or “somewhat serious problem,” according to a poll conducted by YouGov.
Destiny Guzman, a VCU alumnus, said they believe that the high-ranking officials were making light of a very severe situation.
“I think it’s scary that they were talking about all of it over text and not an encrypted email,” Guzman said. “The way they were communicating about it was very dehumanizing, like it was a joke rather than actual war plans.”
Guzman said the current administration has less judgment than previous presidencies.
“Even with Nixon, people did not take Watergate lightly and he ended up resigning,” Guzman said. “I think it just goes to show how unprofessional our administration is regardless of your political beliefs.”
Alex Lin, a fourth-year marketing student, said she found the Trump administration’s response to the leak hypocritical, but was not shocked by the response.
“They were so adamant on saying it didn’t happen,” Lin said. “I find it to be hypocritical, they were all up in arms about Hillary’s emails and now they’re saying ‘Oh, but everyone makes mistakes.’”
