‘Signalgate’ fiasco shows officials flouting security

What happened President Trump this week shrugged off a staggering national security breach in which top administration officials shared secret war plans against Yemen’s Houthi militia on a messaging app—and accidentally looped in a journalist. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, received an invitation to a group chat on Signal, an encrypted but otherwise unsecured commercial app for cellphones, from someone calling himself “Mike Waltz.” Initially skeptical that the user was really Trump’s national security adviser, Goldberg silently observed a days-long debate on the chat. Users identified as Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other top officials discussed how and when to strike the Houthis to ensure the militants could not sabotage Red Sea shipping. Hegseth shared operational plans for military strikes that were specific enough, Goldberg wrote,…