Trump Officials Discussed War Plans in Chat
U.S. officials have reacted with shock — and in many cases, horror — to revelations in The Atlantic magazine that senior members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet sent detailed operational plans and other likely highly classified information about U.S. military strikes on Yemen to a messaging group chat to which a journalist was accidentally added.
The Trump administration has acknowledged that the messages, sent via the non-government encrypted messaging app Signal, appear to be authentic, without offering any explanation for why the senior officials were discussing national defense information outside approved classified government systems.
Almost immediately, senior policymakers began working behind the scenes to review Signal’s use, amid concerns that Trump administration officials were relying too heavily on it to conduct sensitive government work, posing a potentially serious risk to U.S. national security, current and former officials said.
Once the story was published, it spread throughout the Trump administration via multiple text messages, with staff reacting with disbelief, according to those who spoke to CNN confidentially.
Several administration officials told CNN they were shocked, with at least two speculating that this could result in one of their colleagues being fired.