In a surprising twist, top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration accidentally shared secret plans for a military strike in Yemen with a journalist. The blunder happened in a private group chat, exposing details of a U.S. operation against the Houthi rebels before bombs even started dropping.
How the Leak Happened
The mix-up went down on Signal, an app meant for secure messaging. Trump’s team, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was busy hashing out plans to hit Houthi targets in Yemen. They were talking specifics—where to strike, what weapons to use, and when it’d happen.
But somehow, they added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, to the chat by mistake.
Goldberg started getting messages with all the nitty-gritty details. At first, he thought it might be a joke. But then, on March 15, 2025, the U.S. launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen—exactly as the texts described.“I couldn’t believe it,” Goldberg later wrote in an article for The Atlantic. “It was like they handed me the playbook.”
The Yemen Strikes
The operation itself was no small thing. The U.S. targeted Houthi rebels, who’ve been attacking ships in the Red Sea and causing headaches for international trade.
The strikes killed more than 30 people and were meant to send a strong warning to the group and its supporters in Iran. But the real shock came from how the plans got out.
Posts on X lit up after the news broke. One user wrote, “Did they really just text a reporter their war plans? This is next-level sloppy!” Another added, “Trump’s team just turned a military op into a group chat fail.”
Why It Matters
Military plans are usually kept under lock and key, shared only in secure briefings—not casually texted around. This slip-up has people scratching their heads about how Trump’s crew handles sensitive stuff.
Goldberg called it a sign of “chaos” in the administration, and some worry what could’ve happened if the info had reached the wrong hands instead of a journalist.
The leak didn’t stop the strikes from going ahead, but it’s left a big question mark over the team’s coordination. “It’s embarrassing,” one anonymous official reportedly said. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to work.”
What’s Next?
For now, the focus is on the fallout—both from the Yemen strikes and the accidental spill. The U.S. says the operation hit its mark, but the Houthis are still a problem, and tensions with Iran aren’t going anywhere.
Meanwhile, Trump’s team is likely double-checking their contact lists to avoid another texting oopsie.
As for Goldberg, he’s got a story for the ages “It’s not every day you get a front-row seat to history like this,” he said.
The rest of us? We’re just wondering what else might pop up in that group chat!