National security voices across Washington are reeling Monday following reports that top Trump Administration officials mistakenly provided detailed military plans to the editor of the Atlantic Magazine in advance of its recent strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, claims in a blockbuster article that National Security Advisor Michael Waltz invited him — seemingly by accident — into a private chat group on Signal, an encrypted messaging service, where Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

Publishing screenshots from the group chat, titled “Houthi PC small group,” Mr. Goldberg revealed how Messrs. Hegseth and Waltz, along with Vice President Vance and the director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, openly discussed with “shocking recklessness” the plusses and minuses of taking military action against the Houthis after the rebel group vowed to start targeting American vessels traveling through the Bab-el-Mandeb to the Suez Canal, a critical maritime trade route.

For instance, a Signal account identified as “JD Vance” shared his concerns that the timing of the military strikes would be a “mistake.”

“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” writes the Vance account. “I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”

What Mr. Goldberg described as a “fascinating policy discussion” continued, with a Signal account belonging to user “Pete Hegseth” responding to the Vance account: “Important considerations, most of which are tough to know how they play out (economy, Ukraine peace, Gaza, etc). I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what — nobody knows who the Houthis are — which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.”

The Hegseth account continued: “We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should. This [is] not about the Houthis. I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence, which Biden cratered. But, we can easily pause. And if we do, I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC”—operations security. “I welcome other thoughts.”

The group also discussed how the military action benefitted Europe, much to the Vance account’s dismay, who writes “I just hate bailing out Europe.” Mr. Vance has been hypercritical of European allies of late, claiming the continent is risking “civilizational suicide” for failing to control its borders and threatening to reduce US military presence in Germany. 

According to Mr. Goldberg, the Hegseth account responded, “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this. Nobody else even close. Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes.”

Mr. Goldberg admits that he was concerned that his inclusion in the group chat, and the nature of the conversation itself, could have been a “disinformation operation.”

“But if it was a hoax, the quality of mimicry and the level of foreign-policy insight were impressive,” writes Mr. Goldberg.

On the morning of March 15th, the Hegseth account sent a “TEAM UPDATE” that contained operational details like “targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” that Mr. Goldberg refrained from sharing in his piece. The first wave of attacks would happen at 1:45 Eastern time, the Hegseth account revealed in the group chat. Sure enough, Mr. Goldberg, sitting inside his car while parked in a supermarket parking lot, followed news updates on Yemen as reports of American military strikes appeared at 1:55 pm, ten minutes after the planned time. The March 15th attacks killed 53 people, per the Yemeni health ministry, which is run by the Houthis. 

Earlier Monday, Mr. Goldberg emailed a list of questions to Waltz, Hegseth, Ratcliffe, and others about  whether the Signal group was, indeed, real, and if they intentionally included the editor-in-chief of a publication that President Trump most recently blasted as a “Third Rate Magazine.”

A spokesman for the National Security Council confirmed Mr. Goldberg’s “inadvertent” inclusion in “an authentic message chain” on Signal, adding that the conversation was “a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials.”

On X, Mr, Goldberg’s story left several users, many of them outspoken critics of the Trump administration, downright baffled.

“This is legit the most incredible and reckless thing I’ve ever seen,” wrote former Congressman Adam Kinzinger. 

“Pete Hegseth texting out war plans like invites to a frat party,” wrote Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. 

Even some of Mr. Trump’s allies were shaking their heads at Hegseth’s incredible display of carelessness. “Classified information should not be transmitted on unsecured channels — and certainly not to those without security clearances, including reporters. Period,” wrote New York Congressman Mike Lawler on X.

Mr. Trump, however, appeared nonplussed by the news. “I don’t know anything about it,” he told reporters during a cabinet meeting Monday. “I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic; to me it’s a magazine that is going out of business.”

“I know nothing about it,” he added. “You’re saying that they had what?”