March 25, 2025
Hegseth and Rubio caught discussing classified matters on Signal app
Private messages reveal inappropriate discussions about classified government matters
🛡️National Security📜Constitutional Law
Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio face scrutiny after private Signal messages revealed inappropriate discussions about classified matters.
On March 25, 2025, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat where participants discussed Operation Rough Rider, the Yemen military operation against the Houthis (Daily Beast; Fox News; Wikipedia)
The Atlantic and Washington Post reported that the Signal group chat listed 18 participants, including Vice President JD Vance, Cabinet secretaries, and intelligence directors (Fox News; Washington Post; TIME)
American Oversight filed suit alleging that using Signal to discuss active military operations without preserving records violated the Federal Records Act (Daily Beast; DefenseScoop; Wikipedia)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s messages included a timeline marking 1345 ET as the 'Trigger Based' F-18 first strike window and 1410 ET for the second F-18 strike package (Al Jazeera; Washington Post; Wikipedia)
Senators Roger Wicker and Jack Reed requested a Pentagon Inspector General investigation into whether classified information was shared over unclassified networks (DefenseScoop; NPR; Wikipedia)
🛡️National Security📜Constitutional Law
People, bills, and sources
Mike Waltz (National Security Advisor)
erroneously added Jeffrey Goldberg to the operational Signal chat (Daily Beast; Fox News)
Pete Hegseth (Secretary of Defense)
shared sensitive operational timelines in the Signal chat, including strike windows at 1345 ET and 1410 ET (Al Jazeera; Washington Post)
Marco Rubio (Secretary of State)
congratulated 'Pete and your team!!' in the chat, identified as 'MAR' (Wikipedia; Washington Post)
What You Can Do
1
Review the Federal Records Act’s record-keeping requirements (44 U.S.C. § 3101–3107) on the Government Publishing Office site at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/uscode/2011/title44 to understand legal obligations for preserving government communications
2
Track the Pentagon Inspector General’s investigation by subscribing to public reports on the DoD Office of Inspector General website at https://www.dodig.mil/Reports
3
Verify official statements on the Signal chat authenticity by reading National Security Council press briefings at the White House Briefing Room: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings