Staff Reports
A new scandal has erupted from the depths of the White House, and it has all the makings of a political thriller—minus the actual thrill. An inquiry has been launched into how journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was accidentally added to a senior-level encrypted group chat that included top-tier officials like Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. This chat was, quite literally, a war room for discussing military strikes against Yemen’s Houthi forces. It’s almost as if someone at the White House took “transparency in government” a bit too far.
Goldberg found himself getting a front-row seat via the Signal messaging app, receiving detailed plans about the March 15 bombing well before U.S. troops executed the mission. While it’s heartening to see journalists so engaged, one has to wonder how a simple misdial resulted in a Pulitzer Prize-level security breach. Reportedly, the chat was titled “Houthi PC small group,” which sounds less like a military operation and more like a bad tech-savvy PTA meeting.
The party line from the administration claims that the sensitive discussions and classified information that flowed through this unsecured channel posed no significant risk. It’s comforting that they have such faith when adding journalists to these classified chats. Maybe the White House thinks that the mere presence of a liberal journalist safeguards national security—because if anyone is going to blow the whistle, it’s definitely going to be someone from The Atlantic.
White House probes how journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was looped into top-secret discussion of Houthi airstrikes on the Signal messaging apphttps://t.co/d0V0ySZP4b pic.twitter.com/besqUB88f7
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) March 25, 2025
But not all lawmakers are letting this slip under the radar. Bipartisan outrage has hit Capitol Hill faster than the latest TikTok trend. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has joined the fray, calling for a congressional investigation into what he labeled one of the biggest breaches of military intelligence in recent memory. This is rich coming from a Democrat who prefers to keep most other breaches—like those in his own party—out of the spotlight. Never one to miss an opportunity, Senator Jack Reed also weighed in, bemoaning the “egregious failure of operational security and common sense.” It’s rather like the pot calling the kettle black, given the history of the Democratic party with such lapses.
However, not all are hopping on the outrage bandwagon. Some see this as merely a case of bureaucratic oversight—of which there are always plenty. Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, pointed out that classified information should never be flying around on unsecured channels, especially not to those without security clearances. It’s like letting a kid in a candy store—fun for them, but dangerous for national security.
As the story develops, the American people are left wondering: what’s next? Are we going to see FBI agents knocking on Goldberg’s door to retrieve classified memes from group chats? Will the White House install a “no reporters” sign and finally set some clear boundaries? Whatever the outcome, this one deserves a Hollywood plot twist, preferably one involving the uncanny ability of journalists to sniff out military secrets while being blissfully unaware of proper communication protocols.
