After it came to light this week that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz had added Jeffery Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, to a Signal group chat where members of President Donald Trump's administration discussed upcoming air strikes on the Houthis, government officials issued a series of odd deflections. One of the strangest: that the information was definitely not classified.
"There was no classified material that was shared," Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified this week. "So, let's [sic] me get this straight," Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X. "The Atlantic released the so-called 'war plans' and those 'plans' include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information."
Hegseth can choose to downplay the content of the messages, which included strategy considerations and two hours' advance notice of when the bombings would begin, including, per a message from Hegseth in the chat, the precise time "WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP." But one thing he cannot do convincingly is claim the information, which can be found in detail here, did not meet the bar for classification.
