Loose Lips...

It may be hard to avoid hearing about the incredible security lapse that occurred during the buildup to Trump's recent attack on the Houthis, but this is one not to avoid.

Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg's report (noted as a 14 minute read) will not fail to fascinate or alarm; I am still processing this myself.

pic.twitter.com/joqfwrihNp

— Phil Magness (@PhilWMagness) March 24, 2025

Read the whole thing, but I think this is representative:

After receiving the [Michael] Waltz text related to the "Houthi PC [principals committee] small group," I consulted a number of colleagues. We discussed the possibility that these texts were part of a disinformation campaign, initiated by either a foreign intelligence service or, more likely, a media-gadfly organization, the sort of group that attempts to place journalists in embarrassing positions, and sometimes succeeds. I had very strong doubts that this text group was real, because I could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans. I also could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include the editor in chief of The Atlantic in such discussions with senior U.S. officials, up to and including the vice president.

The next day, things got even stranger.

...

After reading this chain, I recognized that this conversation possessed a high degree of verisimilitude. The texts, in their word choice and arguments, sounded as if they were written by the people who purportedly sent them, or by a particularly adept AI text generator. I was still concerned that this could be a disinformation operation, or a simulation of some sort. And I remained mystified that no one in the group seemed to have noticed my presence. But if it was a hoax, the quality of mimicry and the level of foreign-policy insight were impressive.

It was the next morning, Saturday, March 15, when this story became truly bizarre.

...

According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. eastern time. So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot. If this Signal chat was real, I reasoned, Houthi targets would soon be bombed. At about 1:55, I checked X and searched Yemen. Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa, the capital city. [bold added]

This should come as little surprise in the administration of someone who arguably should be in prison for mishandling national security information, and whose "move fast and break things" approach to government reform has been a similar dumpster fire of carelessness.

-- CAV