OPINION:
President Trump’s cabinet-level advisors just suffered their first screwup. While discussing plans to attack the Islamic radicals endangering the freedom of the seas in the Middle East, a hostile entity was inadvertently allowed to listen in.
That entity, The Atlantic magazine Editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, proceeded to publish the conversation between Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and about a dozen others. Mr. Waltz likely finds himself on thin ice within the administration after he mistakenly added Mr. Goldberg to the group conversation on the encrypted Signal messaging app.
No fan of the president, Mr. Goldberg timed his release of the first batch of messages until the eve of congressional testimony by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director, both of whom participated in the chat.
There’s no reason to suspect Mr. Goldberg did anything wrong beyond overhyping the implications of the scoop he lucked into. In a follow-up story Wednesday, Mr. Goldberg published what he had styled as “war plans” shared among the administration advisors.
The incriminating texts involved Mr. Hegseth announcing when F-18 fighter aircraft and MQ-9 drones would strike Houthi targets in Yemen. No descriptions of those targets or locations were given, so it wasn’t much. Given the government’s fondness for over-classification, however, it’s probable that information — if it was sent before the raid — would have been considered secret.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says it was only “sensitive” information. “We’re not going to lose focus of the bottom line, which is that Joe Biden’s weakness enabled and emboldened Houthi terrorists and President Trump’s strength and resolve eliminated those terrorists.”
Since no harm came from the flub, it’s worth viewing the incident as a window into the way this administration operates. It turns out Mr. Trump isn’t the authoritarian found in the Democratic narrative. His advisers have agency, and Elon Musk isn’t secretly running the show behind the scenes — he wasn’t even invited to the chat.
Mr. Vance took the lead, expressing misgivings about the operation, saying there may not have been enough communication work done to prepare for it. “There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary,” he told his colleagues.
The vice president also was uncertain about the consistency with the president’s message about Europe needing to take care of its own affairs. Mr. Waltz argued for action, explaining Houthi assaults cause U.S. shipping to divert from the area. He also said he intends to tally the costs of the mission and “levy them on the Europeans.”
Instead of the group-think that plagued the prior administration’s foreign policy squad, the Signal chat revealed thoughtful minds weighing the pros and cons of a proposed action.
Democrats are trying to inflate the use of a private communications tool into a scandal, but it’s a natural reaction to the left’s own misconduct. Since 2016, intelligence community staff have been spying on Mr. Trump and his campaign. Official channels are inherently compromised.
Leakers and fake “whistleblowers” within the National Security Council set up Mr. Trump with impeachment. Others snared Gen. Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security advisor, with federal charges over an innocuous call with the Russian ambassador.
The old guard want to outlaw Signal use because they want to listen in and advance their forever war agenda. After beefing up security, Mr. Trump’s team needs to communicate in whatever way advances his America first agenda.
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