Controversy was sparked this month when a group of U.S. security officials conversed about private military information, including a surplus of information regarding upcoming Yemen air strikes, and unknowingly added The Atlantic‘s Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg into the chat. The conversation took place on a private group system platform called Signal, and authorities including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and others discussed the time that fighter jets would launch and the attacks would happen.
Signal is an app that can be downloaded on any phone, and it allows users to make group chats and video or phone calls. Chats in this thread were set to “disappear” after varying lengths of time from being sent, all of which Goldberg screenshotted, according to ABC News (abcnews.com). Freshman Hannah Klonsky commented on the usage of a phone app to send classified information: “I do not think it’s appropriate because something like war plans and bombing is very serious; something like that shouldn’t be discussed in a group chat on an app that can be downloaded on anyone’s phones.”
The thread of messages includes exchanges between the executives and a secretive plan about an attack on Yemen; the messages explained exactly when and where these attacks would take place. In the chats, U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth messaged, “TEAM UPDATE: TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/ CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch. 1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package),” according to the BBC (bbc.com). Although, according to NBC News (nbcnews.com), Trump officials claim that no classified information was messaged in the chat, Goldberg had visibility of these messages and disclosed more information to other news sources. Freshman Sophia Kostkowicz shared an opinion on what measures should have been taken by Goldberg: “I would have kept the group chat a secret, but while keeping it a secret, written an article on it. So, when the war plans happen, I would be the first one to report it and know about it beforehand. I wouldn’t let it out before because that could jeopardize my career for releasing the information before the war plans happen.”
Signal is an end-to-end encrypted platform and an open source, which means that anyone with a code can break through and view the messages. Sophomore Emma Murphy commented on revealing all of the messages; she said, “No, I do not think that it was in the best interest of our country for him to release these messages. I think this because if other countries see the plans, they could then use the information and be more prepared for upcoming attacks.”
