Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence) and John Ratcliffe (Director of the Central Intelligence Agency) testified yesterday to the Senate Intelligence Committee that there were no classified details in the text communications in the Signal group formed by Michael Waltz (National Security Advisor).

Pete Hegseth (Secretary of Defense) and other Trump administration officials who were involved in this Signal group claimed yesterday on national television that no classified information had been exchanged and that national security interests were not harmed. Hegseth claimed: “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Michael Waltz wrote in response on X: “No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent. BOTTOM LINE: President Trump is protecting America and our interests.”

They lied.

The Atlantic has now published additional texts from the Signal group that reveal the details of the military operations and tactics that senior Trump administration officials discussed via text messages on a commercial platform. Here is some key exchanges from the longer thread, as published by The Atlantic today:

Trump officials have absolutely no plausible deniability here. They openly discussed detailed attack plans via text messages with a journalist that they accidentally included in their Signal group. This reckless conduct exposed U.S. military operations in real time and undermined U.S. national security.

When Jeffrey Goldberg and The Atlantic revealed the Trump officials’ serious errors, many of them lied and attempted to discredit the journalist and his news magazine.

Michael Waltz, Pete Hegseth, and other Trump officials involved in the Signal group must now resign over their blatant recklessness in discussing military operations via text message on an unsecured platform.

They should also be investigated for potentially criminal conduct under the Espionage Act.

Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe who lied under oath to the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday must also resign.

Historians of war and society are following the developing story on the breach of national security with dismay. This incident shows a serious erosion in civil-military relations and national security institutions within the United States.

As an academic historian of war and society and a longtime member of the Society for Military History, I deplore the reckless conduct of the National Security Advisor, Secretary of Defense, and other senior members of the Trump administration who clearly do not have sufficient experience or ethical responsibility to be involved in military policy discussions, much less leading military policy.

This post has been updated to include additional sources.

Goldberg, Jeffrey and Shane Harris. “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal.” The Atlantic (26 March 2025).

Bazail-Eimil, Eric. “The Atlantic Releases Screenshots of Timing, Weapons Used in Yemen War Plans Signal Chat.” Politico (26 March 2025).

“The Leaked Signal Chat, Annotated.” The New York Times (26 March 2025).