Got the Signal?

The operation against Houthi militants Yemen was a success.  American firepower was able to repel the Houthis and do serious damage to their positions, weakening their ability to attack Israel with long-range missiles and harass shipping lanes in the Red Sea.  And when the attack occurred over a week ago, reporter Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, was following the developing attack from home, rooting for the success of the attack.

Because he'd gotten war plans for Yemen texted to him on the Signal chat app.

Goldberg was given top-secret information in advance when national security adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently logged him on to a Signal chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratliff, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Vice President Vance discussed attack plans for strikes on the Houthis in Yemen and put national-security secrets on an online chat that anyone could have hacked into while it was going on - emojis and all.  

Goldberg knew all about these secrets in advance - kudos to him for sitting on the information until after the attack was carried out.  By releasing details of the chat after the operation, Goldberg has not only preserved national security (not part of his job description), he's made the incompetency of the White House advisers the story.  The national insecurity officers chatting on this Signal conversation blamed Goldberg for the story, insisting that it was a smear campaign against the Republican administration . . . even though the chat has been verified as having actually happened. 

Once Mike Waltz came clean about having added Jeffrey Goldberg - one of his media contacts - by mistake, he explained that he was trying to sign on someone else based on initials - JG - because, that, apparently, is how you store names on Signal.  Waltz was trying to add another administration official, Jamieson Greer.  Who? I looked up Jamieson Greer, I was left wondering why Waltz would invite onto a chat about war plans . . . the United States Trade Representative.

So why didn't these people discuss plans to bomb Yemen on a more secure line?  Apparently they thought it was better to go on an app that the Kremlin could tap instead of going on an ultra-secure line that the President would be privy too.  That was it - they didn't what the orange blob in the Oval Office to know about the particulars.

Even the White House national insecurity staffers don't want the boss to know what's going on because they're afraid he's going to louse things up more than they already are!

Which may explain why Jamieson Greer was supposed to be invited.

Oh yeah, the Houthis just fired more long-range missiles into Israel again.  Guess that operation wasn't a success after all.