Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Intelligence Officials Face Lawmakers as More Signal Texts Are Released
d8a347b41db1ddee634e2d67d08798c102ef09ac
By The New York Times
Published 3 days ago on
March 26, 2025

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) speaks to reporters about a Signal group chat among senior Trump administration officials on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. The Atlantic on Wednesday released more of the group chat among senior Trump administration officials in which they discussed U.S. military plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, a day after senior officials said there was nothing classified in the messages. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Top intelligence officials who were part of a group chat on a consumer messaging app that discussed U.S. military plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen were testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, hours after The Atlantic published more messages from the group, which had inadvertently included the publication’s top editor.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, were facing questions over the chat, whose disclosure was a stunning breach of operational secrecy that Trump administration officials have attempted to downplay.

The newly published messages, which include screenshots of the full chat on the messaging app Signal, make clear that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth included specific details of the timing of the launches from aircraft carriers of the U.S. military jets that were to strike Houthi targets.

Launch times are typically closely guarded to ensure that the targets cannot move into hiding or mount a counterattack at the very moment planes are taking off, when they are potentially vulnerable.

Gabbard Tells House Panel No Classified Information Leaked

Testifying before the House panel, Gabbard reiterated her assertion that no classified information was shared on the chat. She was pressed by Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the committee, about her testimony to a Senate panel Tuesday that precise details of the attack were not included in the messages. She replied: “My answer yesterday was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof, on the details that were posted there.”

Ratcliffe said the newly released information shows that he did not put classified information into the chat. “I used an appropriate channel to communicate sensitive information,” he said. “It was permissible to do so. I didn’t transfer any classified information.”

Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, had been inadvertently added to the chat and was able to observe the messages, which he said he initially thought was a masquerade. He left the group after he realized that it “was almost certainly real” after the strikes forecast in the chat took place. The Atlantic said its release Wednesday included all the texts except the name of a CIA officer working as an aide to Ratcliffe at the request of the CIA.

Hegseth did not post all the details of the war plans and did not identify the precise targets the planes were going to hit, other than to say they were going after a “Target Terrorist.” But Hegseth posted the precise times that various waves of planes would take off, information that is typically highly classified.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Julian E. Barnes/Eric Lee
c. 2025 The New York Times Company

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Plastics Are Seeping Into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies

DON'T MISS

Myanmar’s Earthquake Death Toll Jumps to 1,644 as More Bodies Are Recovered From the Rubble

DON'T MISS

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

DON'T MISS

If You Want to Ski Affordably Next Season, Buy Now

DON'T MISS

Dog Found in Horrid Conditions Now Seeks Loving Home

DON'T MISS

Trump Takes Aim at California Six Times in 24 Hours

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Sells X to His Own xAI for $33 Billion in All-Stock Deal

DON'T MISS

US Naval Academy Ends Affirmative Action in Admissions

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Backtracks on a Legally Questionable Plan to Pay Voters

DON'T MISS

Appeals Court Clears Way for DOGE to Keep Operating at USAID

UP NEXT

Myanmar’s Earthquake Death Toll Jumps to 1,644 as More Bodies Are Recovered From the Rubble

UP NEXT

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

UP NEXT

If You Want to Ski Affordably Next Season, Buy Now

UP NEXT

Dog Found in Horrid Conditions Now Seeks Loving Home

UP NEXT

Trump Takes Aim at California Six Times in 24 Hours

UP NEXT

Elon Musk Sells X to His Own xAI for $33 Billion in All-Stock Deal

UP NEXT

US Naval Academy Ends Affirmative Action in Admissions

UP NEXT

Elon Musk Backtracks on a Legally Questionable Plan to Pay Voters

UP NEXT

Appeals Court Clears Way for DOGE to Keep Operating at USAID

UP NEXT

Trump Pledges US Aid for Asia Quake Despite Former Official Saying System in ‘Shambles’

If You Want to Ski Affordably Next Season, Buy Now

6 hours ago

Dog Found in Horrid Conditions Now Seeks Loving Home

7 hours ago

Trump Takes Aim at California Six Times in 24 Hours

7 hours ago

Elon Musk Sells X to His Own xAI for $33 Billion in All-Stock Deal

22 hours ago

US Naval Academy Ends Affirmative Action in Admissions

22 hours ago

Elon Musk Backtracks on a Legally Questionable Plan to Pay Voters

23 hours ago

Appeals Court Clears Way for DOGE to Keep Operating at USAID

23 hours ago

Trump Pledges US Aid for Asia Quake Despite Former Official Saying System in ‘Shambles’

23 hours ago

Gronk-a-Mania Set to Run Wild Over WrestleMania Weekend

1 day ago

Federal Judge Blocks Trump From Dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

1 day ago

Plastics Are Seeping Into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies

KAMPALA, Uganda — In Uganda’s Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as b...

5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Plastics Are Seeping Into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies

5 hours ago

Myanmar’s Earthquake Death Toll Jumps to 1,644 as More Bodies Are Recovered From the Rubble

5 hours ago

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

6 hours ago

If You Want to Ski Affordably Next Season, Buy Now

Punkin, a 1-2-year-old dog with a tough past of living in a hoarding situation, is looking for a patient, understanding home with another dog to help him adjust and thrive. (Mell's Mutts)
7 hours ago

Dog Found in Horrid Conditions Now Seeks Loving Home

7 hours ago

Trump Takes Aim at California Six Times in 24 Hours

22 hours ago

Elon Musk Sells X to His Own xAI for $33 Billion in All-Stock Deal

22 hours ago

US Naval Academy Ends Affirmative Action in Admissions

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend