WASHINGTON, D.C. (New York Post) — President Trump’s cabinet officials revealed “pretty detailed” classified information on a chat group with a journalist earlier this month about impending US airstrikes against Houthi terrorists in Yemen, with one expert calling the snafu “really scary”, and another saying he was “floored” by what was revealed.
The full exchange from the encrypted Signal chat — which included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Michael Waltz — was released Wednesday by Atlantic magazine editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was inadvertently added to the private group.
“TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch,” Hegseth told participants on March 15.
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package),” Hegseth continued, before adding: “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).”
The “classified” operational details covered the “method of targeting,” the timeline for the operation and who pulled the trigger on the Houthi targets, according to Dan Meyer, a national security partner at New York law firm Tully Rinckey.
“The pilots were using their sensors, using their triggers to confirm identification and they let the drones deliver the weapons,” said Meyer, a 25-year veteran of national security law and former official at the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General.
Hegseth also wrote in the Signal thread that at 2:10 p.m., “more F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package).”
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets),” the Pentagon leader said. “1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”
“That’s when bombs would actually drop,” Meyer said of Hegseth’s “1415” missive. “So what that tells me is the pilots weren’t launching weapons.”
Meyer explained that the other texts were “pretty detailed.”
“Somebody flying the drone, you know, could be [operating out of] a strip mall down in Camden, New Jersey,” he added.
US officials are required to consider information whose “unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable or indescribably damage to the national security” for classification, which falls under three sensitivity categories: confidential, secret and top secret, according to federal law.
The strike plan could be considered top secret — the highest classification level — because it fits the legal definition of “information providing indication or advance warning that the US or its allies are preparing an attack,” according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s official classification tiers.
While Hegseth claimed Wednesday that the strike plans were given “in real time” and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said it happened while the plan “was underway,” Signal time stamps indicate the defense secretary sent the messages before the first strike was carried out.
“Really scary that that went out over Signal because that reveals a method of targeting that you can read online in some places, but you really don’t want to know in specific instances when ‘trigger-based’ targeting is being done,” Meyer said.
