Summary
A security breach involving Trump’s national security team occurred when leaked Signal group chat revealed that Trump-appointed officials accidentally shared classified U.S. war plans with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg.
The chat included top officials like Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
This breach raises concerns about using unclassified apps for sensitive data, violating laws on classified information and record retention.
The incident highlights the risks of appointing unqualified individuals to critical roles, echoing broader patterns of mismanagement during Trump’s administration.
To be clear, Hegseth (the drunken amateur) isn’t the same as Michael Waltz, the guy who invited Goldberg to the chat.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/03/jeffrey-goldberg-group-chat-broke-internet/682161/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Waltz
Waltz, unlike Hegseth, is not a random idiot, he definitely knows better.
“Waltz received four Bronze Stars while serving in the Special Forces during multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. He served in the Bush administration as a defense policy director in the Pentagon and as counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney.”
As far as Hegseth (or any of the rest of them for that matter) was concerned, the list was all vetted and pre-approved people.
The fact that NONE of them actually vetted the list before saying anything speaks volumes.
They went down the line asking “Hey, who else in your department needs to be a contact on this?” and they all sounded off one by one, except Goldberg.
Nobody thought to ask “Hey, J.G., we haven’t heard from you yet. In fact, wait, who is J.G.?”
To me, it is likely that Waltz intended to invite a different JG, and fat-fingered it. So, if a journalist is looking for a big scoop, I guess they should change their name to Victor Palmer, or Vanessa Potter, and work their way into Trump’s DMs?
Arnold Palmer might work too.
Good thing he doesn’t keep pizza places in his contact list. Imagine inviting Hungry Howie to your encrypted war chat.
Seems much more likely.
Jamieson Greer? United States Trade Representative.
This is a fair assessment, but all of them should know better than using Signal for this kind of thing.