Here are the attack plans that Trump advisers shared on signal

So, about this signal cat.

On Monday, shortly after having published a story on a huge security offense of Trump administration, a journalist asked the defense secretary, Pete HegsethWhy had he shared plans on a next attack on Yemen on the signal messaging application. He replied: “No one sent war plans. And that’s all I have to say about it. “

During a Senate hearing yesterday, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi GabbardAnd the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, were both interviewed on the Cat reported, to which Jeffrey Goldberg, editor -in -chief of chief of chief The Atlanticwas inadvertently invited by national security advisor Michael Waltz. “There was no classified equipment shared in this signal group,” Gabbard told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Ratcliffe said roughly the same thing: “My communications, to be clear, in the group of signal messages were entirely authorized and lawful and did not include classified information.”

President Donald TrumpQuestioned the same question yesterday afternoon, said: “It was not classified information.”

These statements showed us a dilemma. In The Atlantic‘s Initial history on the cat reported—The “small group Houthi PC”, as has been appointed by Waltz – We have hidden specific information related to weapons and at the time of the attacks that we found in certain texts. As a rule, we do not publish information on military operations if this information could compromise the life of American staff. This is why we have chosen to characterize the nature of the shared information, and not specific details on attacks.

Read: the Trump administration accidentally sent me his war plans

Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe and Trump’s statements – have combined with the statements made by many administration officials that we are on the content of the signal texts – led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to draw their own conclusions. There is a clear public interest to disclose the type of information that Trump advisers have included in unsecured communication channels, especially because senior administration figures are trying to minimize the importance of shared messages.

Experts have told us on several occasions that the use of a cat reported for such sensitive discussions is a threat to national security. As an example, Goldberg received information on attacks two hours before the planned start to bombing the Houthi positions. If this information – in particular at the time, American planes take off for Yemen – had fallen into bad hands in this crucial two -hour period, American pilots and other American staff could have been exposed to an even greater danger than they would normally do. The Trump administration claims that the military information contained in these texts has not been classified – as it would generally be – although the president did not explain how he reached this conclusion.

Yesterday, we asked the Trump administration officials if they opposed the publication of complete texts. In email at the Central Intelligence Agency, at the office of the National Intelligence Director, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Defense and the White House, we have partly written: “In the light of the declarations today of several administration officials, including in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, that information in the signal chain on the Houthi strike is not classified, and that it does not contain” war plans ” The Atlantic plans to publish the entire signal chain. »»

We sent our first request for comments and comments to national security officials shortly afternoon, and followed in the evening after most of the answers.

Late, late, the press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, sent an answer by e-mail: “As we said on several occasions, no classified information was transmitted in the group cat. However, as the Director of the CIA and the National Security Advisor have both expressed it today, this does not mean that we encourage the release of the conversation.sic)) Internal and private deliberations among high -level senior executives and sensitive information was discussed. So for this reason (sic) – Yes, we oppose the version. (The Leavitt declaration did not address the elements of the texts that the White House considered sensitive, nor how, more than a week after the initial air strikes, their publication could have the intention of national security.)

A spokesperson for the CIA asked us to refuse the name of John Ratcliffe chief of staff, which Ratcliffe had shared in the signal chain, because the CIA intelligence officers are traditionally not identified publicly. Ratcliffe had declared earlier yesterday that the officer was not under cover and said that he was “completely appropriate” to share his name in the signal conversation. We will continue to refuse the name of the officer. Otherwise, the messages are not expelled.

Listen: Jeffrey Goldberg on the group cat that broke the Internet

As we wrote on Monday, a large part of the conversation in the “small group Houthi PC” concerned the calendar and the justification of the attacks against the Houthis, and contained remarks by the officials of the Trump administration on the so -called shortcomings of the American European Allies. But the day of the attack – Saturday March 15 – The discussion turned to the operation.

At 11:44 am East time, Hegseth posted in the cat, in all the ceilings, “Update of the team:”

The text below began: “Time Now (1144 and): the weather is favorable. I have just confirmed with Centcom, we are a mission launch. ” Centcom, or central order, is the military combat command for the Middle East. The HegSeth text continues:

Take a break here for a moment to highlight a point. This signal message shows that the American defense secretary sent an SMS to a group that included a phone number unknown to him – the Goldberg mobile phone – at 11:44 am, it was 31 minutes before the launch of the first American war planes, and two hours and a minute before the start of a period during which a main target, the “target terrorist”, was to be killed by an American plane. If this text had been received by a person hostile to American interests – or someone simply prying and with access to social media – the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was supposed to be a surprise attack on his bastions. The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic.

The Hegseth text then continued:

Shortly after, Vice-president JD Vance sent a text to the group: “I will say a prayer for victory.”

At 1:48 p.m., Waltz sent the following text, containing real -time information on the conditions on an attack site, apparently to Sanaa: “VP. The building collapsed. Had several positive identifiers. Pete, Kurilla, the CI, Amazing Job. ” Waltz was referring here to Hegseth; General Michael E. Kurilla, commander of the central command; and the intelligence community, or IC. The reference to “multiple positive ID” suggests that American intelligence had verified the identity of the Houthis target, or target, using human or technical assets.

Six minutes later, the vice-president, apparently confused by Waltz’s message, wrote: “What?”

At 2 p.m., Waltz replied: “Tapping too quickly. The first target – their large missile – we had a positive identity document from him entering the building of his girlfriend and he is now collapsed. ”

Vance replied a minute later: “Excellent”. Thirty-five minutes after that, Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, wrote: “A good start”, which Waltz followed with a text containing a fist emoji, an American flag emoji and an emoji of fire. The Yemeni Yemeni Ministry managed by the Houthis reported that at least 53 people had been killed in strikes, a number which had not been verified independently.

Later in the afternoon, Hegseth posted: “One hundredcom was / is on the point.” He then told the group that the attacks would continue. “Excellent work everything. More strikes in progress for hours this evening, and will provide a full initial report tomorrow. But on time, on the target and good readings so far.”

We still do not know why a journalist was added to the exchange of text. Waltz, who invited Goldberg in the Signal cat, said yesterday that he was investigating “how he entered this room”.