MIXED SIGNALS: In response to the embarrassing screw-up that resulted in highly sensitive operational details of an impending U.S. attack on Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15, being shared in a group chat with a journalist, the Trump administration — taking a cue from Donald Trump himself — spent the day downplaying the debacle as a minor “glitch” that “turned out not to be serious” while insisting nothing discussed on the commercial Signal messaging app was actually classified.
“It wasn’t classified as I understand it. It wasn’t classified information, and there was no problem, and the attack was a tremendous success,” Trump repeated last night in an interview on Newsmax. “I can only go by what I was told; I wasn’t involved in it,” Trump told Newsmax host Greg Kelly. “But I feel very comfortable actually.”
In a contentious two-hour hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe gave carefully nuanced testimony denying that anything they shared on the group chat was classified.
“My communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,” Ratcliffe testified, noting that Signal was loaded to his computer at the CIA and was “permissible” for some work use.
But Ratcliffe conceded that “pre-decisional strike deliberation should be conducted through classified channels.”
“I can attest to the fact that there were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time,” Gabbard said, the key qualifier being “intelligence equities.”
“So the attack sequencing and timing and weapons and targets, you don’t consider should have been classified?” asked Sen. Angus King (I-ME). “I defer to the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Council on that question,” Gabbard responded.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE SIGNAL MESS
HEGSETH STICKING TO HIS STORY: The case for insisting that the leak of sensitive war plans shared by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, hours before the U.S. campaign against the Houthis started, were not classified hinges on the argument that as defense secretary, he has “original classification authority.” If Hegseth shared it on the unsecured chat, it is ipso facto declassified.
Hegseth, speaking to reporters in Hawaii, deflected questions about his role, instead launching into a description of the attacks that night as “devastatingly effective” before repeating his one-sentence defense that, “Nobody’s texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about it.”
“Are you aware that the Secretary of Defense declassified this information prior to the [strikes]?” asked Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, at yesterday’s hearing. “I’m not,” replied Ratcliffe. “My answer is the same,” said Gabbard.
“According to the article, quote, ‘the message contained information that might be interpreted as related to actual and current intelligence operation,’” Reed noted.
“That wouldn’t be classified information,” Ratcliffe responded. “I know the context of what that is. And I think the author said, might be interpreted as related to intelligence information. It was not classified information.”
RATCLIFFE: SIGNAL WAS APPROVED FOR COMMUNICATION USE BY BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
OUTRAGED DEMOCRATS SAY ‘WE WILL GET THE FULL TRANSCRIPT’: The lack of any admission that standard security protocols were flagrantly flouted, or an apology or promise that the lapse would not be repeated infuriated Democrats on the committee.
At one point Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) asked Ratcliffe a simple question, “This was a huge mistake, Correct?”
“No,” he replied. Ossoff was incredulous. “A national political reporter was made privy to sensitive information about imminent military operations against a foreign terrorist organization.”
“Characterize it how you want,” Ratcliffe responded in a contentious back and forth that had both men talking over each other.
“This is utterly unprofessional,” Ossoff fumed. “There’s been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error. And by the way, we will get the full transcript of this chain, and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content.”
“Did you know that the President’s Middle East advisor was in Moscow on this thread while you were as Director of the CIA participating in this thread? Were you aware of that? Are you aware of that today?” asked Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO).
“I’m not aware of that today,” Ratcliffe admitted. At another point, Gabbard admitted she was traveling in Asia while participating on the group chat. She refused to say if she was using her personal phone.
“This sloppiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel who work for him is entirely unacceptable. It’s an embarrassment,” said Bennet.
“You know, there’s plenty of declassified information that shows that our adversaries China and Russia are trying to break into encrypted systems like Signal,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), vice chairman of the committee. “I think this is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information, that this is not a one-off or a first-time error.”
Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre.
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HAPPENING TODAY: The CEOs of NPR and PBS — Katherine Maher and Paula Kerger, will be called on to defend the continued taxpayer subsidies for public broadcasting as President Trump has accused the radio and television entities of liberal bias. Maher and Kerger are scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at 10 a.m. The hearing title gives a pretty clear idea of the questioning that the two executives will face, “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.”
Trump said yesterday he’d be “honored” to be the president who defunded public broadcasting. “I would love to do that.” Trump called NPR and PBS “very unfair” and “very biased” and said that these days, there are plenty of other options, while public broadcasting is a relic of “a different age.”
“They spend more money than any other network of its type ever conceived. So, the kind of money that’s being wasted,” Trump told reporters. “I’d be honored to see it end. We’re well covered. Look at all the people that we have here today. We’re well covered, and we don’t need it and it’s a waste of money.”
TRUMP GIVES WALTZ A PASS: Trump started the day by calling his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, “a good man” who had “learned a lesson” in a phone interview with NBC News. However, as the day wore on Trump had decided Waltz really had nothing wrong, blaming “technology” for the inadvertent addition of Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to what was supposed to be a secure chat on Signal.
“It’s something that can happen,” Trump said. “Sometimes, people are hooked in and you don’t know they’re hooked in. They’re hooked into your line and they don’t even mean bad by it.”
“I don’t think he should apologize,” Trump said at an event with new U.S. ambassadors, to which Waltz had been invited to join. “I think he’s doing his best. It’s equipment and technology that’s not perfect. And probably he won’t be using it again, at least not in the very near future.”
Trump then launched into a discourse on Signal in which he didn’t rule out using the encrypted — but not secure — messaging app in the future. “we’ll look into it, but everybody else seems to be using it. It seems to be the No. 1 used device or app, whatever you want to call it. And we will certainly look. If it was up to me, everybody would be sitting in a room together. The room would have solid lead walls, a lead ceiling, and a lead floor. But, you know, life doesn’t always let you do that.”
“We may be forced to use it,” Trump said. “You may be in a situation, you know, where you need speed as opposed to gross safety, and you may be forced to use it. But generally speaking, I think we probably won’t be using it very much,” he said, appointing Waltz to look into how the Houthi small group chat was compromised.
“We have our technical experts looking at it. We have our legal teams looking at it. And, of course, we’re going to keep everything as secure as possible,” Waltz said. “No one in your national security team would ever put anyone in danger.”
TRUMP SAYS WALTZ DOESN’T NEED TO ‘APOLOGIZE’ FOR SIGNAL GROUP CHAT SCANDAL
WALTZ: ‘IT’S EMBARRASSING … I TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY’: In an interview on Fox News last night with Laura Ingraham, Waltz put to rest speculation that it was some low-level staffer who mistakenly invited Goldberg to the now infamous chat. “Look, a staffer wasn’t responsible. And look, I take full responsibility. I built the group. My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated.”
“It’s embarrassing. Yes. We’re going to get to the bottom of it,” Waltz said, revealing he invited Elon Musk to help solve the puzzle of how Goldberg’s contact got into Waltz’s phone, when he insisted he had no contract with the Atlantic editor, who he called a “loser.”
“I just talked to Elon on the way here. We’ve got the best technical minds looking at how this happened,” Waltz said. “I can tell you, I can tell you for 100%, I don’t know this guy. I know him by his horrible reputation, and he really is the bottom scum of journalists. And I know him in the sense that he hates the president, but I don’t text him. He wasn’t on my phone. And we’re going to figure out how this happened.”
“I don’t mean to be pedantic here,” Ingraham said, “But, how did the number …?
“Have you ever had somebody’s contact that shows their name, and then you have somebody else’s number there?” Waltz interrupted. “You’ve got somebody else’s number on someone else’s contact. So, of course, I didn’t see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else. Now, whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical means is something we’re trying to figure out.”
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but of all the people out there, somehow this guy who has lied about the president, who has lied to Gold Star families, lied to their attorneys, and gone to Russia hoax, gone to just all kinds of lengths to lie and smear the president of the United States, and he’s the one that somehow gets on somebody’s contact and then gets sucked into this group,” Waltz said.
WALTZ SUGGESTS GOLDBERG MAY HAVE ‘DELIBERATELY’ HACKED INTO SIGNAL CHAT
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: What we know about the Signal mess
Washington Examiner: Lawmakers want entire Signal group chat thread released as Gabbard and Ratcliffe insist classified info was not shared
Washington Examiner: Trump officials sued over Signal text records
Washington Examiner: Ratcliffe: Signal was approved for communication use by Biden administration
Washington Examiner: Ratcliffe answers ‘no’ when asked if chat mishap was ‘a huge mistake’
Washington Examiner: Trump says Waltz doesn’t need to ‘apologize’ for Signal group chat scandal
Washington Examiner: Waltz suggests Goldberg may have ‘deliberately’ hacked into Signal chat
Washington Examiner: Why did Atlantic editor-in-chief wait so long to exit Signal group chat?
Washington Examiner: Pete Buttigieg demands Trump fire Waltz after war plan ‘screw-up’
Washington Examiner: Tom Cotton recommends Intel Committee ‘focus’ away from group chat leak
Washington Examiner: China angling for ‘increased engagement with Greenland,’ intel community says
Washington Examiner: JD Vance set to join Usha Vance in Greenland amid takeover threats
Washington Examiner: AfD lawmakers take their seats in unwelcoming Bundestag
Washington Examiner: Trump orders citizens to provide proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections
Bloomberg: US Sees Russia, Ukraine Choosing a Longer War Over a Bad Deal
AP: Trump Intel Officials Testify on Threat from Drug Cartels as Dems Press Them on Leak of Attack Plans
The Hill: Senate Armed Services Chair Confirms Plans to Investigate War Plan Group Chat
New York Times: The Leaked Signal Chat, Annotated
The Atlantic: Trump Goes After the Messenger
Washington Post: Why government workers and military planners all love Signal now
AP: Trump downplays national security team texting military operation plan on Signal as a minor ‘glitch’
NBC News: As Trump negotiates with Putin, NATO fights Russian sabotage of undersea cables
Reuters: Boeing, Northrop Grumman Await US Navy Next-Generation Fighter Contract This Week, Sources Say
Wall Street Journal: Boeing Gets Lifeline in Pentagon Deal to Build Most Expensive Jet Fighter Ever
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Sets Locations, Seeks Volunteers for First ‘Deployable Combat Wings’
Breaking Defense: Anduril’s Fury Hopes to Woo Australia Away from Boeing’s Ghost Bat
SpaceNews: Companies in the Space Force Commercial Reserve Program Will Not Be Publicly Identified
Air & Space Forces Magazine: The Case for More Money for Space
Defense One: Can This GPS Alternative Keep a Drone from Crashing?
DefenseScoop: DISA Launching Experimental Cloud-Based Chatbot for Indo-Pacific Command
Air & Space Forces Magazine: C-54 Flies for the First Time
The Cipher Brief: Intel Chiefs Detail Top Threats – and Get a Grilling Over Signal Leak
THE CALENDAR:
WEDNESDAY | MARCH 26
9 a.m. 900 South Orme St., Arlington, Virginia — Irregular Warfare Center annual IWC symposium, March 26-27, with Jonathan Schroden, research program director at CNA https://web.cvent.com/event/
9:30 a.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing: “U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Space Command in review, Defense Authorization Request for FY2026 and the Future Years Defense Program,” with testimony from Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander, U.S. Strategic Command; and Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander, U.S. Space Command http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
9:30 a.m. Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama — Association of the U.S. Army Global Force Symposium, with Lt. Gen. Christopher Mohan, deputy commanding general and acting commanding general of Army Materiel Command https://www.dvidshub.net/webcast/35699
10 a.m. 1100 Longworth — House Intelligence Committee hearing: “The Annual Worldwide Threats Assessment,” with testimony from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; FBI Director Kash Patel; Gen. Timothy Haugh, director, National Security Agency; and Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director, Defense Intelligence Agency http://intelligence.house.gov
10 a.m. — Wilson Center Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies virtual discussion: “Russia’s Indigenous Communities and the War in Ukraine,” with Alexandra Garmazhapova, president, Free Buryatia Foundation; and Pavel Sulyandziga, visiting scholar at Dartmouth College https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/russias-indigenous-communities-and-war-ukraine
11 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual discussion: “The criticality of space superiority and review the progress the Space Force is making to ensure it has the capabilities and combat-ready guardians to achieve it,” with Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations; and Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/events/sss-saltzman-25/
12 p.m. 1957 E St. NW — George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs book discussion: The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins, U.S. Autonomous Military Arsenal, with co-author Jacquelyn Schneider, Hoover Institution fellow; and co-author Julia Macdonald, assistant professor at the University of Denver https://calendar.gwu.edu/event/the-hand-behind-unmanned-origins
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute discussion: “Bending the Defense Cost Curve,” with David Chu, adjunct senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Analysis; and Harold Furchtgott-Roth, director, Hudson Center for the Economics, Internet https://www.hudson.org/events/bending-defense-cost-curve-harold-furchtgott-roth
2:30 p.m. 222 Russell — Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee hearing: “The Status, Military Service Academies,” with testimony from Army Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland, superintendent, U.S. Military Academy; Vice Adm. l Yvette Davids, superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy; and Air Force Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, superintendent, U.S. Air Force Academy http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
3:30 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee hearing: “U.S. Special Operations Forces and Command — Challenges and Resource Priorities for Fiscal Year 2026,” with testimony from Colby Jenkins, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict; and Army Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command https://armedservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=5019
THURSDAY | MARCH 27
10 a.m. — Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation Subcommittee hearing: “NTSB Preliminary Report: DCA Midair Collision,” with testimony from NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy http://commerce.senate.gov
11 a.m. — Washington Institute for Near East Policy virtual forum: “Assessing the U.S. Military Campaign Against the Houthis,” with Michael Knights, WINEP senior fellow; Noam Raydan, WINEP senior fellow; and Elizabeth Dent, WINEP senior fellow https://washingtoninstitute-org.zoom.us/webinar/register
2 p.m. — Defense One virtual forum: “State of the Army,” part of its “State of Defense” series, with Gen. Randy George, chief of staff, U.S. Army https://events.defenseone.com/state-of-defense-2025
3:30 p.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual book discussion: The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins, U.S. Autonomous Military Arsenal,” with co-author Jacquelyn Schneider, fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution; and co-author Julia Macdonald, research professor at the University of Denver’s School of International Studies https://www.cnas.org/events/the-future-of-military-artificial-intelligence
FRIDAY | MARCH 28
10 a.m. — National Institute for Deterrence Studies virtual discussion: “Major Power Rivalry and Nuclear Stability,” with former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy Brad Roberts, director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for Global Security Research https://thinkdeterrence.com/events/major-power-rivalry-and-nuclear-stability/
TUESDAY | APRIL 1
2 p.m. 2172 Rayburn — House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing: “Countering the Iranian Regime’s Malign Activities,” with testimony from Norman Roule, non-resident senior adviser, Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Claire Jungman, chief of staff, United Against Nuclear Iran https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/a-return-to-maximum-pressure
THURSDAY | APRIL 3
9 a.m. Brussels, Belgium — Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers, with press conferences scheduled by both Rubio and NATO Secretary-General Mark Ruttehttps://www.nato.int
