Earlier this week, The Atlantic published a report detailing a Signal chat thread in which members of the Trump-aligned national security team discussed operational specifics of a strike against Houthi pirates in Yemen. Names like Mike Waltz, Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Stephen Miller, and John Ratcliffe were associated with the conversation. The messages included precise timelines and military activity, including strike windows, drone launches, and Tomahawk deployments.
While the authenticity of the chat was never in question, the seriousness of its content is. Despite initial denials that classified data had been disclosed, Goldberg’s follow-up revealed enough detailed, time-stamped military strategy to stir alarm among national security experts.
Was This Information Considered Classified?
The administration's early defense was rooted in the argument that nothing shared in the Signal chat was classified. However, given the content — military operations schedules, aircraft movements, and mission specifics — this defense appears flimsy at best. Whether or not the information is still technically classified is less important than the fact that, under existing U.S. federal classification norms, such communications almost certainly would fall under that umbrella.
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