The White House confirmed on Monday that a U.S. journalist was accidentally added to a group chat where top American officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, were discussing planned strikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels. President Donald Trump announced the strikes on March 15. Still, in a major security lapse, The Atlantic magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed that he had received advance notice of the operation hours earlier through the group chat on Signal.

"The message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain," stated National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.

The White House stated that Trump "continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team," despite the U.S. president claiming he "did not know anything about" the matter.

The leak could have caused significant damage if Goldberg had revealed details of the plan beforehand, but he refrained from doing so even after the event. However, he did mention that Hegseth had shared information about the strikes, including "targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing", in a group chat.

"According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 pm Eastern time," according to Goldberg, this sequence of events unfolded exactly as it played out in Yemen.

Goldberg stated that he was added to the group chat two days before the strikes and saw messages from senior government officials assigning representatives to handle the matter.

On March 14, a person named Vance expressed hesitation about proceeding with the strikes, stating that he hated "bailing Europe out again" since the Houthi attacks on shipping had impacted European countries more than the United States. In response, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Hegseth argued in the group chat that only Washington could carry out the strikes. Hegseth agreed with Vance's frustration: "I shared Vance's loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC." Additionally, a person identified as "S M", who might be Trump advisor Stephen Miller, suggested that "if the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost, there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return."

The security breach sparked outrage among Democrats, 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" and demanding a thorough investigation.

Senator Jack Reed also condemned the leak, criticising the administration’s handling of sensitive information and stating, "The carelessness shown by President Trump's cabinet is stunning and dangerous."

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, who Trump frequently criticised for using a private email server as secretary of state, shared The Atlantic article on X with the remark, "You have got to be kidding me."

The Houthi rebels, who have controlled large parts of Yemen for over a decade, are aligned with Iran and strongly oppose Israel and the United States as part of the so-called "axis of resistance." During the Gaza war, they launched numerous drone and missile attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, claiming their actions were in solidarity with Palestinians. Their attacks severely disrupted this crucial trade route, which typically handles about 12% of global shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a longer and more expensive route around southern Africa. In response, the U.S. began targeting the Houthis during President Joe Biden’s administration, carrying out multiple strikes on their positions, sometimes with support from the United Kingdom.

Trump has pledged to "use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective" in response to the Houthis' threats against Red Sea shipping. Meanwhile, the US has continued to carry out airstrikes over the past 10 days.