White House Confirms Signal Chat Authentic: Reviewing How a Journalist's Number Was Added to Houthi Strike Group
On March 24, 2025, the White House National Security Council confirmed that a Signal group chat among senior U.S. officials disclosed by the press "appears to be authentic," and said it was reviewing how a journalist's number had been inadvertently added to the chain. The episode put senior officials' use of a commercial encrypted messaging app to discuss a military operation at the center of public debate.
The disclosure came in a first-person account published that day by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. According to Goldberg, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added him in mid-March to a Signal group called "Houthi PC small group" whose members included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the group discussed the March 15 U.S. strikes on Yemen's Houthis before they happened; he wrote that he first suspected a hoax, became convinced the chat was real when the strikes took place as described, and later removed himself from the group.
National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement that day: "At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain." The thread, he added, was "a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials," and "the ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security."
Secretary Hegseth publicly denied the same day that anyone had texted war plans in the chat. President Trump told reporters that day that he was unaware of the incident. What exactly the chat contained, and whether any of it was classified, became the focus of argument in Washington; the White House review and congressional follow-up are covered separately. (Source: National Security Council)
Source: National Security Council
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2025年1月28日，国家安全顾问沃尔茨（中）在白宫与国务卿鲁比奥（左）、国防部长赫格塞思（右）会面（白宫官方照片，公共领域，Wikimedia Commons）。 / Image: National Security Advisor Mike Waltz (center) meets Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (right) at the White House on January 28, 2025 (official White House photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
