Fury at ‘stunning’ security failure by top Trump officials after war plans accidentally shared with journalist – US politics live
Widespread criticism follows White House security blunder
Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with the widespread condemnation after senior members of Donald Trump’s cabinet were involved in a serious security breach while discussing secret military plans for recent US attacks on the Houthi armed group in Yemen.
In an extraordinary blunder, key figures in the Trump administration – including the vice-president, JD Vance, the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard – used the commercial chat app Signal to convene and discuss plans – while also including a prominent journalist in the group.
The news was met with outrage and calls for an investigation in the US, with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer calling it “one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time”
Signal is not approved by the US government for sharing sensitive information.
“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” said Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement.
He said American lives are “on the line. The carelessness shown by Trump’s Cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the Administration immediately.”
Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was “horrified” by the reports.
Himes said if a lower-ranking official “did what is described here, they would likely lose their clearance and be subject to criminal investigation. The American people deserve answers,” which he said he planned to get at Wednesday’s previously scheduled committee hearing.
Some Republicans also expressed concerns. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters on Monday: “We’re very concerned about it and we’ll be looking into it on a bipartisan basis.”
Reed said he would be speaking with Wicker about what the committee will do to “follow up” on the Signal leak. Meanwhile, Senate majority leader John Thune said he wants to learn more about what happened.
“Obviously, we got to run it to the ground, figure out what went on there,” said Thune, a South Dakota Republican.
In other news:
Key events
While Signal is regarded as a secure encrypted chat service, its weakness is that phones on which it is installed can themselves be vulnerable.
Among those aghast at the breach was the Democratic representative Pat Ryan, an army veteran who sits on the House armed services committee who described it using the second world war-era epithet “Fubar” – meaning “fucked up beyond all recognition”.
“If House Republicans won’t hold a hearing on how this happened IMMEDIATELY, I’ll do it my damn self.”
Shane Harris, a longtime national security reporter – formerly of the Washington Post and now with the Atlantic – wrote on BlueSky: “In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this.”
The incident is likely to further raise concerns over the Trump administration’s trustworthiness with intelligence shared by erstwhile allies – not least as Hegseth boasts at one stage of guaranteeing “100 percent OPSEC – operations security” while a celebrated journalist is reading his message.
The discussions seen by Goldberg include comments from Vance, who appeared unconvinced of the urgency of attacking Yemen, as well as conversations over what price should be expected of Europeans and other countries for the US removing the threat to a key global shipping route.
Security and intelligence commentators in the US described the breach of operational security as unprecedented – both for the use of a commercial chat service and for the inclusion of Goldberg.
The breach was revealed in an article published on Monday by Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the Atlantic magazine, who discovered that he had been included in a Signal chat called “Houthi PC Small Group” and realising that 18 other members of the group included Trump cabinet members.
In his account, Goldberg said that he removed sensitive material from his account, including the identity of a senior CIA officer and current operational details.
The report was confirmed by Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the national security council, who told the magazine: “This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”
Hughes added: “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”
Andrew Roth
If Europe wasn’t already on notice, the extraordinary leak of deliberations by JD Vance and other top-level Trump administration officials over a strike against the Houthis in Yemen was another sign that it has a target on its back.
The administration officials gave Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic a front-row seat to the planning for the strike against the Houthis – a stunning intelligence leak that has caused anger against Republicans who called for criminal investigations against Hillary Clinton and others for playing fast and loose with sensitive information.
On the face of it, the strike against the Houthis had far more to do with the administration’s policies on protecting maritime trade and containing Iran than its concerns about Europe freeloading on US defense spending and military prowess.
But Vance appears determined to push that angle as a reason to postpone the strike.
“I think we are making a mistake,” wrote Vance, adding that while only 3% of US trade goes through the Suez canal, 40% of European trade does. “There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary,” he added. “The strongest reason to do this is, as [Trump] said, to send a message.”
Widespread criticism follows White House security blunder
Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with the widespread condemnation after senior members of Donald Trump’s cabinet were involved in a serious security breach while discussing secret military plans for recent US attacks on the Houthi armed group in Yemen.
In an extraordinary blunder, key figures in the Trump administration – including the vice-president, JD Vance, the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard – used the commercial chat app Signal to convene and discuss plans – while also including a prominent journalist in the group.
The news was met with outrage and calls for an investigation in the US, with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer calling it “one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time”
Signal is not approved by the US government for sharing sensitive information.
“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” said Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement.
He said American lives are “on the line. The carelessness shown by Trump’s Cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the Administration immediately.”
Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was “horrified” by the reports.
Himes said if a lower-ranking official “did what is described here, they would likely lose their clearance and be subject to criminal investigation. The American people deserve answers,” which he said he planned to get at Wednesday’s previously scheduled committee hearing.
Some Republicans also expressed concerns. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters on Monday: “We’re very concerned about it and we’ll be looking into it on a bipartisan basis.”
Reed said he would be speaking with Wicker about what the committee will do to “follow up” on the Signal leak. Meanwhile, Senate majority leader John Thune said he wants to learn more about what happened.
“Obviously, we got to run it to the ground, figure out what went on there,” said Thune, a South Dakota Republican.
In other news:
