A recent internal investigation into the White House revealed a series of missteps by national security adviser Mike Waltz, including a mistake that inadvertently included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg in a group chat about plans for US strikes in Yemen.
A recent internal investigation into the White House revealed a series of missteps by national security adviser Mike Waltz, including a mistake that inadvertently included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg in a group chat about plans for US strikes in Yemen.
The incident began months ago when Goldberg emailed the Trump campaign about a story criticizing President Donald Trump‘s attitude towards wounded service members. The campaign enlisted Waltz, their national security surrogate, to push back against the story. However, an email forwarded by then-Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes to Waltz ended up saving Goldberg’s phone number in his iPhone under the contact card for Hughes.
Jeffrey Goldberg is an American journalist, author, and editor.
He has been the national correspondent for The Atlantic since 2007.
Goldberg's work focuses on foreign policy, international relations, and politics.
He has reported from various countries, including Israel, Iran, and Iraq.
His book 'Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Captivity' (2011) explores his experiences with a former Iranian hostage.
Goldberg is known for his in-depth reporting and insightful analysis.
A Signal group chat is a feature within the encrypted messaging app, 'Signal.' It allows users to create groups of up to 1,000 participants for secure and private communication. Group chats in Signal are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring that only participants can read messages. Users can also add or remove members from a group chat at any time. Signal group chats support file sharing, including images, videos, and audio files.
The mistake was not discovered until last month when Waltz sought to add Hughes to the Signal group chat but inadvertently added Goldberg’s number instead. The group chat, which discussed plans for strikes against the Houthis, also included several top US officials.
Waltz initially denied ever meeting or communicating with Goldberg. However, after taking responsibility for the mistake, he earned a reprieve from Trump’s consideration of firing him. Instead, Trump decided not to fire Waltz in part because he did not want the Atlantic and the news media to have the satisfaction of forcing the ouster of a top cabinet official.
The White House conducted a forensic review of the incident, which found that Waltz’s phone had saved Goldberg’s number as part of an unlikely series of events. The investigation also revealed that the mistake was not isolated but part of a larger series of compounding slips that started during the 2024 campaign.
Despite the controversy surrounding the incident, Trump has publicly defended Waltz in recent weeks since the group chat situation became public. This support, combined with the White House’s authorization of the use of Signal as a temporary solution to text in real-time across different agencies, may have helped Waltz gain some sympathy from inside Trump’s orbit.
Previous administrations, including the Biden White House, did not develop an alternative platform to Signal. As a result, the Trump administration was left with no choice but to use Signal as a temporary solution. This decision has sparked debate about the security and efficacy of using unclassified systems like Signal for sensitive communications.
Signal's end-to-end encryption provides a high level of security for users' messages and calls.
However, like any other communication platform, it is not immune to potential vulnerabilities.
One concern is the reliance on third-party servers for user authentication and contact verification.
Additionally, Signal's use of secure messaging protocols can be vulnerable to attacks such as man-in-the-middle (MITM) and eavesdropping.
Furthermore, users may inadvertently compromise their security by using weak passwords or falling victim to phishing scams.
