'Consequences Could've Been Catastrophic': US's Yemen War Chat Leaked

Publishing the minute-by-minute details of the US airstrikes against Yemen, the magazine said the leak could have had deadly consequences for American pilots and exposed them to "even greater danger".

The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday shared the full text of the leaked chats of the US airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Source : ABP Live

The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday shared the full text of the chats, including screenshots, providing proof for its claim that it had received classified information on plans discussing attacks on Houthis in Yemen in a chat group, just over two hours before the attack on March 15.

The full-length disclosure comes after the senior members of the US intelligence and defence agencies struggled to explain how the details on war plans wound up on an unclassified chat on the texting app Signal, where the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg was added inadvertently.

Publishing the minute-by-minute details of the US airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen, the editor warned that the leak could have had deadly consequences for American pilots and exposed them to "even greater danger" if they had fallen into the wrong hands.

The chat reportedly included Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Hegseth, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Antonio Rubio, Director Of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and others.

"If this information - particularly the exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen - had fallen into the wrong hands in that crucial two-hour period, American pilots and other American personnel could have been exposed to even greater danger than they ordinarily would face. The Trump administration is arguing that the military information contained in these texts was not classified - as it typically would be - although the president has not explained how he reached this conclusion," Goldberg and staff writer Shane Harris wrote. 

"The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic," they added.

According to the Atlantic report, the war plans included precise information about weapons, targets, and timing. It said that the statements made by Hegseth, Gabbard, Trump, and Ratcliffe claiming that the magazine was lying about the content posted on the Signal chat group "led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions".

"There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared," the magazine said. 

The Atlantic stated that it asked officials if they objected to the release of full text of the chat and received a response from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who stressed that no classified information was shared but that does not mean "we encourage the release of the conversation".

"This was intended to be a an (sic) internal and private deliberation amongst high-level senior staff and sensitive information was discussed. So for those reason (sic) - yes, we object to the release," the report quoted Leavitt as saying. 

What Was Posted On The Signal Chat Group?

Goldberg was mistakenly added to the "Houthi PC small group channel" on March 11, which had top Trump administration as participants discussing the March 15 Yemen strikes.

In the group chat, Hegseth posted:

1144 ET: Hegseth confirmed favorable weather conditions and signaled the go-ahead for the mission.
1215 ET: F-18s launched in the first strike package.
1345 ET: The "trigger-based" strike window opened, indicating the target was confirmed to be at a known location. "(Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)"
1410 ET: "More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)"
1415 ET: The first bombs were set to drop as strike drones reached their targets.
1536 ET: The second wave of F-18 strikes began, alongside Tomahawk missile launches from naval forces.
"MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)"
"We are currently clean on OPSEC" — that is, operational security.
"Godspeed to our Warriors."

Trump Administration Continues To Downplay Security Breach

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Tuesday told members of the Senate's intelligence committee that it was up to Hegseth to determine whether the information he was posting was classified or not. 

Gabbard had admitted that "candid and sensitive" information was shared, but reiterated that classified intelligence was not shared. Ratcliffe too asserted that no classified information was shared. Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel said he would not comment on whether the agency would start an investigation into the security breach.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that there was nothing that had been compromised and that the incident had no impact on the attack.

"Somebody in my group either messed up or it's a bad signal," he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Leavitt described the controversy has "another hoax written by a Trump-hater".

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed questions about whether he shared classified information on Signal and also denied revealing "war plans".

"So, let’s me get this straight. The Atlantic released the so-called “war plans” and those “plans” include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information. Those are some really shitty war plans," Hegseth said in a post on X.

"This only proves one thing: Jeff Goldberg has never seen a war plan or an “attack plan” (as he now calls it). Not even close," he added.

National security adviser Mike Waltz also stressed that "No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS" were discussed in the chat.