In the 24 hours since a bombshell Atlantic article, senators have grilled Trump administration intelligence officials — but there are no signs yet that anyone involved will face any repercussions. The article, by Jeffrey Goldberg, details how he was inadvertently added to a chat on Signal, the encrypted messaging app, where key administration figures were planning a U.S. bombing operation in Yemen.NPR's Ryan Lucas followed a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, where CIA Director John Ratcliffe and the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard testified that no classified information was discussed in the chat group. Democrats challenged that assertion.And Willem Marx reports on reaction in European capitals. The Atlantic article included disparaging comments about European allies from Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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If you could boil down how Democrats versus Republicans are reacting to Monday's bombshell Atlantic magazine story into a single 15-second clip, it might be this one. Georgia Democratic Senator John Ossoff questioning CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Director Ratcliffe, this was a huge mistake, correct?
No.
Okay, to back us up a bit, that Atlantic story was written by Jeffrey Goldberg, and in it, he details how he was included, apparently by accident, in a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal. He spoke with me about what happened next.
I look at the group, it's 18 people or so, and it includes what I take to be the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Advisor, the Vice President, CIA Director, and so on.
Goldberg says he thinks it's a hoax at first, but he stays quiet and watches the conversation unfold. Eventually, they begin discussing a potential U.S. strike on Houthi targets in Yemen.
By Saturday the 15th, the text chain is filled up with what I would call operational military information of the sort that I'm not comfortable sharing. I'm not comfortable sharing, obviously.
But just to describe that, information about the targets, weapons that the U.S. would be using, and how the attacks would be sequenced, right?
Yes. I'm sitting in my car in a parking lot in a supermarket at 1144 a.m. Eastern, and I get this war plan from Pete Hexeth. And it basically says in two hours' time, you'll begin to see the effects of the bombing.
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