A national security breach reveals that U.S. military plans were accidentally shared in a group chat on a commercial app, including a journalist. The Trump Administration faces legal challenges over deporting Venezuelan migrants under a centuries-old law, while the White House invokes state secrets privilege to block a court inquiry. And, Second Lady Usha Vance's controversial visit to Greenland raises questions about the U.S. government's intentions amid ongoing diplomatic tensions. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Eric Westervelt, Roberta Rampton, Janaya Williams and Mohamad ElBardicy.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carleigh StrangeLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: How were U.S. military plans accidentally shared with a journalist?
U.S. military plans were discussed in a group chat that included, apparently by accident, a journalist.
I'm sitting in my car, and I get this war plan from Pete Hegseth.
Why were sensitive plans to strike Yemen shared on an unsecured messaging app? I'm Michelle Martin, that's Leila Fadl, and this is Up First from NPR News. A federal judge says the Trump administration did not give appropriate due process to hundreds of Venezuelan migrants when it deported them under a wartime law. Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemy Act than has happened here.
What is the administration's argument?
And the prime minister of Greenland is not happy about an upcoming visit from Second Lady Usha Vance.
International travel is often set up as a way to connect
with the voting public. But Greenland sees it as aggressive. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. In an extraordinary security breach, the country's most senior security officials created a group chat on a messaging app to discuss U.S.
airstrikes on Yemen. Now, two important points about this. First, the group chat was on Signal, not a secure U.S. government network. And second, the group included a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic magazine, apparently by accident. For more, we're joined by NPR national security correspondent Greg Myrie.
Hey, Greg.
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Chapter 2: Why is the Trump Administration using the Alien Enemies Act against Venezuelan migrants?
Now, Goldberg initially thought this was some sort of hoax. Someone was trying to entrap him. But over the next few days, the text increasingly looked to be genuine with details about U.S. plans to bomb the Houthis in Yemen. Goldberg spoke to All Things Considered yesterday about what then happened on March 15th.
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 Hegseth.
And so two hours later, the U.S. bombing begins in Yemen, and Goldberg realizes this is no hoax. These U.S. airstrikes are real, and they're still ongoing. And Hegseth yesterday questioned the credibility of Goldberg, but the National Security Council put out a statement saying the material appeared to be authentic.
I mean, it's pretty remarkable. And Democrats have been highly critical of Trump's national security team saying it lacked experience. Is this an example of that supposed lack of experience?
Well, Layla, it certainly seems so, and they certainly should have known better. Hegseth often talks about his military experience, as does Waltz, and rest assured they were never told as soldiers to share military operations in advance on their preferred messaging app and to include emojis, as Waltz apparently did, with a clenched fist, a flag, and a fire emoji. And this group
also included the nation's top two intelligence officials, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Now, those agencies are absolutely fanatical about secure communications, yet based on Goldberg's account, no senior national security official raised concerns about sharing war plans on Signal.
And how do national security officials normally communicate when discussing sensitive military operations?
Well, those officials are supposed to use a SCIF, which stands for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. These secure rooms are built to discuss classified information. You can't take a phone into these rooms. You can't take documents out. And all of these top-ranking national security officials have SCIFs at their offices and at their homes.
I mean, it makes sense in principle, but how does it work in reality? Senior national security officials are often traveling for work. Their job doesn't end when the weekend comes. Is this practical?
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Usha Vance's visit to Greenland?
The administration has been firm in saying they have the authority to invoke this act. What was the case they made in court?
The Justice Department's lawyer argued that the district court judge overstepped by inserting the court into foreign policy and never should have issued his order in the first place. Here's Drew Ensign from the Justice Department.
The district court's order represents an unprecedented and enormous intrusion upon the powers of the executive branch and in a manner that could intrude upon sensitive diplomatic negotiations.
Ensign also spent a lot of time arguing that immigrant advocates brought basically the wrong kind of lawsuit and should have challenged this individual cases in Texas where these deportation flights originated. We don't know when this panel will rule, but it could be soon.
And at the same time, the Trump administration is fighting to avoid releasing more details about these deportation flights. Where does that stand?
Yeah, on a separate legal track, the Trump administration has told U.S. District Judge James Boasberg last night that it is invoking the state secret's privilege and will continue to not give him key information about those flights, including departure times and other operational details.
Boasberg has been pushing the administration to explain whether it defied his orders when it allowed deportation flights to continue last weekend. He has said in court that he will get to the bottom of whether his order was violated.
NPR's Joel Rose. Thank you, Joel.
You're welcome.
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