Journalist accidentally added to US government leaders chat group

The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic announced on Monday that he was accidentally added to a chat group of top US government officials.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the American magazine The Atlantic, was added to the chat on the messaging app Signal by Michael Waltz, the US national security advisor. The group included top officials from the administration of US President Trump such as Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

In the chat, plans were discussed to attack the Houthi rebels in Yemen. According to Goldberg, he could follow the discussions about the plans two days before the attack. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied the existence of the messages, but their authenticity was confirmed by the White House on Monday.

Officials within the Pentagon were shocked that military plans were being discussed in a commercial app and not through official, secure government channels. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers expressed their dismay at the leak.

(PP with HL - Source: NYT, CNN - Picture: © Ana Lanza on Unsplash)