Texts on Signal encrypted messaging service revealed disagreements about whether to strike Houthis in Yemen

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Senior Trump administration national-security officials held detailed discussions of highly classified U.S. plans to launch airstrikes against the Houthis using a commercial messaging service and mistakenly included a journalist in the conversation, U.S. officials said Monday. 

The chats over the Signal encrypted messaging service spanned days and included specific information about weapons, targets and timing used in the attack, according to the Atlantic magazine, whose editor was inadvertently included in the discussion and who disclosed the texts. 

National-security experts and former officials say that use of Signal for conducting classified discussions about imminent military action was a serious breach of security procedures governing the handling of sensitive defense information.

Asked about the article at the White House, President Trump said, “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic.”

National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes confirmed the authenticity of the chat in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. But he didn’t respond to questions about whether the chat ran afoul of legal procedures for handling classified information 

“At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” Hughes said.

“The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The continuing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security,” he added. 

The Signal chat group that discussed the planned strikes against the Houthis listed 18 users. The officials listed included national-security adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and a user identified as “MAR,” which appeared to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Over the course of two days this month, the group debated the wisdom of striking the Houthis with the user identified as Vice President Vance arguing to delay the operation because it might lead to a spike in oil prices and the U.S. would be taking action that mainly benefited trade routes that serve Europe. 

“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” the user identified as the vice president wrote. 

The U.S.-led strikes marked the first major military operation by the current administration, and after the initial wave of U.S. attacks on March 15, the group exchanged congratulations.

Such conversations would normally happen in the White House Situation Room or over secure government communications networks designed for top secret information.

The use of the Signal chat comes as the Trump administration has said it is trying to protect classified information by clamping down on leaks.

“I never sent any classified information on anything other than a secure U.S. government system. There is no justification whatsoever—none—to use any nongovernmental system,” said John Bolton, Trump’s third national-security adviser during the first term. “This is appalling.” 

A former senior intelligence official said that such a breach would customarily lead to an investigation and punitive action. “In ordinary times, there would be a thorough FBI investigation into the mishandling and misuse of classified information, that would likely lead to resignations, firings and perhaps even criminal investigations,” the former official said.

Other former Trump officials argued it was an inadvertent but harmless error to put a reporter onto the sensitive text chain.

“The media will turn this into a story of incompetence or inexperience, which it is not. In the past, Signal has been as secure as many of the so-called top secret encrypted systems so I would not criticize its use,” said Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union in the first term.

Hegseth has made the pursuit of leakers and what he has described as misinformation a focus early in his tenure at the Pentagon. On Friday, Hegseth’s office released a one-page memo vowing to use polygraphs to track down “unauthorized disclosures” of sensitive information related to the Pentagon. 

According to the Atlantic article, Hegseth pushed back on delaying the operation by a month, in part out of fear a potential leak would make the administration look “indecisive.” Two hours before the strikes began, Hegseth sent the group sensitive information about the strike plan, including “weapons packages, targets, and timing,” the magazine said.

Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com and Nancy A. Youssef at nancy.youssef@wsj.com

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