White House and Pentagon officials are defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top national security leaders against allegations that they improperly shared classified information through an unsecured group chat on the Signal messaging app ahead of U.S. airstrikes against Houthi targets earlier this month.

The controversy erupted after The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed he had been mistakenly included in the Signal chat, which reportedly contained “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

In response, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted on social media that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed” and denied that classified material had been shared in the chat.

Secretary Hegseth echoed that position during a Monday press gaggle, labeling Goldberg a “deceitful journalist” who was “peddling hoaxes.” However, Hegseth did not directly address whether using an unsecured app for such sensitive discussions was appropriate.

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Hegseth defended the strikes themselves, calling the operation a success and suggesting that outcome should be the focus. “The mission was accomplished effectively and with precision,” he said.

But concerns in Congress are mounting. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) called the incident “definitely a concern” and said, “I believe mistakes were made.” Wicker plans to hold classified briefings on the matter in the coming days.

Democrats are going further. Fourteen Democratic senators released a joint statement on Monday calling the incident an “egregious breach of public trust.”

They wrote, “It does not take much imagination to consider the likely ramifications if this information had been made public prior to the strike – or worse, if it had been shared with or visible to an adversary.”

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House Armed Services Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) criticized the administration’s handling of the situation, warning, “It’s time to start seriously worrying about the competency of President Trump’s national security team.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has called for both Hegseth and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz to resign.

President Trump, however, dismissed the controversy during a Tuesday interview with NBC News. “Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said. He downplayed the incident as a “glitch” and joked that the strike’s success proved no real harm was done.

The use of Signal, a commercial messaging app, for official communication raises significant concerns. Although Signal is encrypted, experts warn it is not foolproof.

A former senior national security official, speaking anonymously, noted that “foreign governments can hack into and monitor personal cell phones, recording every keystroke made on the device.”

U.S. regulations prohibit discussing national security matters on non-government systems. A Defense Department memo from October 2023 explicitly instructs leaders not to use “non-DoW accounts or personal email accounts” for such business.

Despite this, National Security Council officials confirmed that Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were among those on the Signal thread.

Ratcliffe testified Tuesday that Signal is “permissible to use for work purposes” at the CIA, provided messages are preserved for public record standards. He and Gabbard both insisted no classified intelligence was shared.

The FBI is currently reviewing the incident, though no formal investigation has been launched. Senate Democrats are pushing for one, calling it essential for restoring public trust.

As Jamil Jaffer, head of George Mason University’s National Security Institute, observed, “There’s a very real world in which this whole thing happens and it’s embarrassing and it’s mortifying, but no one gets fired.”

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