The Atlantic releases entire Signal chat showing Hegseth’s detailed attack plans against Houthis

Hegseth’s message continued:

• “1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”
• “1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”
• “1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”
• “1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)”
• “1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”
• “MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”
• “We are currently clean on OPSEC.” (OPSEC, as in operational security.)
• “Godspeed to our Warriors.”

The next message came from Vice President JD Vance, who wrote, “I will say a prayer for victory.”

Some of the messages first came to light in a stunning report from The Atlantic on Monday stating that the Signal group chat also included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and other Cabinet members and divulged information about the Pentagon’s strategy for launching airstrikes against the Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group.

The Atlantic’s first report on the messages earlier this week characterized the content of the chat but did not include specific details about the attacks. The magazine’s editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was the journalist included in the Signal chat called “Houthi PC small group”, wrote Wednesday that those details were initially withheld out of concern for publishing information that could possibly jeopardize the lives of U.S. personnel.

Goldberg wrote that the magazine chose to publish the full chat on Wednesday after Trump and other top officials downplayed the leak and insisted that the information was not classified. Hegseth, who is traveling in the Indo-Pacific, has scoffed at questions about whether the group chat contained classified information.

“Nobody was texting war plans,” he told reporters traveling with him in Hawaii on Monday.

He also attempted to discredit Goldberg, calling him “deceitful” and a “highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes.”

“The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions," Goldberg and Atlantic staff writer Shane Harris wrote in their piece Wednesday.

“There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has also said no classified information was shared in the Signal chat but told the Atlantic that the White House objects to the chat being published.

One detail the magazine continued to withhold Wednesday was the name of Ratcliffe’s chief of staff, which Ratcliffe shared in the Signal chain. Goldberg and Harris wrote that the CIA asked them to withhold the name because CIA intelligence officers are traditionally not publicly identified.

“Otherwise, the messages are unredacted,” Goldberg and Harris wrote.

The magazine’s new release Wednesday showed National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, who apparently invited Goldberg to the chat, posted real-time intelligence about the conditions of the attack site in the Signal group.

“VP. Building collapsed. Had multiple positive ID. Pete, Kurilla, the IC, amazing job,” he wrote, referring to Hegseth, General Michael E. Kurilla, and “IC” as in the intelligence community, according to the Atlantic.

Vance, who was apparently confused, wrote back six minutes later, “What?”

Waltz responded, “Typing too fast. The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.”

Vance, about a minute later, replied, “Excellent,” and Waltz posted emojis of a fist, an American flag, and fire in response.

Later in the chat, Hegseth indicated further strikes would be coming that night.

“CENTCOM was/is on point. Great job all,” he wrote. “More strikes ongoing for hours tonight, and will provide full initial report tomorrow. But on time, on target, and good readouts so far.”

Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, responded, “Kudos to all - most particularly those in theater and CENTCOM! Really great. God bless.”

In a phone interview Tuesday with NBC News, Trump claimed it was a staffer who added Goldberg to the group chat.

“It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there,” Trump said.

Trump expressed confidence in Waltz and downplayed the incident, saying the situation was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out to not be a serious one.”

The Trump administration’s top intelligence officials, including Ratcliffe, Gabbard, and FBI Director Kash Patel, are scheduled to appear before House lawmakers Wednesday for a briefing on global threats but will likely face further questions on the group chat about the Yemen operation.

Gabbard, Patel, Ratcliffe, and other US intelligence officials appeared for a similar hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, where they testified on threats posed by international criminal gangs and drug cartels but also faced questions about the Signal chat leak.

Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, but it can be hacked. It is not approved for carrying classified information.

A day before the strikes in Yemen, the Defense Department cautioned personnel about the vulnerability of Signal, specifically that Russia was attempting to hack the app, according to the Associated Press, citing a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Material from previous Globe reports and the Associated Press was included in this report. This breaking news story will be updated.

Amanda Kaufman can be reached at amanda.kaufman@globe.com. Follow her @amandakauf1. Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.