Atlantic magazine publishes more texts shared on group chat about war plans

The Atlantic magazine has published what it said was a timeline of war plans shared by the US defence secretary in a group chat that mistakenly included a journalist.

The latest revelation comes after the White House had sought to downplay the leak of information about plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen – saying no classified information had been disclosed.

The plan was shared in a group chat on messaging app Signal that included senior government officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as a journalist, The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

He was added to the group chat, called “Houthi PC small group”, on 13 March. The strikes eventually took place on 15 March.

In its latest article, Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal, The Atlantic said that on the day of the attack “the discussion veered toward the operational”.

It quoted Mr Hegseth as posting operational details of the plan, including weapon packages, targets and timing.

At 11.44am eastern time, the defence secretary text, in caps: “TEAM UPDATE:”

He added: “TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch” – referring to Central Command, the US military’s command for the Middle East.

Mr Hegseth then texted, according to the report: “1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”.

“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”.

The magazine noted that the 11.44am message was sent “31 minutes before the first US warplanes launched, and two hours and one minute before the beginning of a period in which a primary target, the Houthi ‘Target Terrorist’, was expected to be killed by these American aircraft.”

Further texts by the Pentagon chief followed, The Atlantic reported: “1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”.

“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)”.

He also posted: “1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched”. And then: “MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”.

“We are currently clean on OPSEC” (operational security), he added.

“Godspeed to our Warriors.”

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In an article titled The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans, the magazine had previously published other texts from the chat – but decided to withhold this information, citing national security concerns.

But it said in its latest article that it had decided to publish the operational timeline after the Trump administration’s statements over the leak.

These statements, the magazine wrote, “have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions”.

The Atlantic also revealed it asked if officials across the Trump administration opposed publication of the full texts and was told by the White House “we object to the release”.

‘No classified information’

Mr Hegseth told reporters no one had texted war plans.

US President Donald Trump said the texting of sensitive plans was “the only glitch in two months” and a non-issue. He said he believed the chat contained “no classified information”.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe – who were both also in the chat – testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that no classified material was shared.

The scandal has led to calls for Mr Trump to sack his defence chief as well as national security adviser Mike Waltz, who has taken full responsibility” for organising the group chat.

It was Mr Waltz who had mistakenly added Mr Goldberg to the group.

“I take full responsibility, he said. “I built the group.”

Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, but it is not approved for carrying classified information.

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