When I worked at NATO, benign details about war game *simulations* were classified, much less particulars about actual attacks. The idea that this info wouldn't have been classified is a total fantasy (and an outright lie).
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Pete Hegseth & co. think they lie to the public bc they know most Americans don't realize how low the bar is for classifying something. It's not high. The idea that info on dropping bombs didn't meet the threshold is absurd & anyone who's worked with classified info knows that.
Common sense. I'm wondering why being classified is the debate. Any target of the bombing finding that out is a real threat. Can we get back on track with the security issue, please. Repubs do what they do best, lie, deny, deflect and change the subject.
While I was in the German army, I have seen enough papers being classified which content would have been considered as laughable, something in the range of "proper use of military underwear".
Nonetheless, if I had told this to a journalist, my ass would have been in deep trouble. Just sayin'.
Even if this data wasn’t classified, it was at least CUI and he still broke the rules on using an unauthorized service and having unauthorized persons on the chat
I’m pretty confident live tweeting (or texting) ongoing classified military strikes would be captured under the banner of classified… at the very least it’s terrible OPSEC, which isn’t great when you’re SECDEF, DNI, the VP… and have a guy in the group in Moscow & a number no one recognized…
I mean, some of these chuds have pointed this out yesterday & today at committee hearings, but yeah, even if the contents of the texts aren't technically classified (yet?), as a matter of data production/comms under DoD guidelines, it's all supposed to be automatically classified as at least Secret.
Wouldn’t Hegseth have first gotten the detailed info from a classified report or plan put together by subordinates working in secure spaces and on secure communications, who then passed it upwards to him, also through some classified channel and marked as classified? 1/2
So this idea that “he’s the one with classifying authority” (as Hegseth himself has suggested and as Gen’l. Kimmett said today on CNN) doesn’t sound right. Probably he could de-classify, but through a process. And I doubt “it’s more convenient to use Signal” would be adequate justification. 2/2
The American people don't understand how much is classified, that is true. But the exact detail of an upcoming military operation is exactly the thing let everyone knows is classified.
It's the canonical classified information, the stuff the spies try to get, the place everyone's mind goes to.
It takes all of us months to learn in a new job. He's been given control of freaking dept of defense with barely any experience and he's launching attacks in 2 months!! Treating it all like a video game.
When he says the plans didn't include anything, he means because the Atlantic censored those parts right? As for "no names", didn't they name an agent under cover in the region?
Yeah it's a perfect example of the times that the only person who acted with any kind of responsibility is also the only person likely to see any consequences.
not to mention the fact if the bad guys have been listening to previous conversations, they're accumulating info and putting things together. they're understanding the "language" and designations for things. every bit of info they get, hurts us.
I agree. Given he had dates, times and methods I would call that secretary, classified information. And yes, in defence we would not even share details of airshow plans outside the secure network. His behaviour is a bloody disgrace.
Just think for a second that this information was available to the Huthis prior to the attack. I mean.... You don't have to go any further than this. Of course this information would mean nothing to Hegseth, but the Huthis are not as stupid as the US-regime is.
They communicated in their official capacities as government officials outside of the official methods, standards and practices. Using an unsecured app. To avoid records keeping. Crime. Period.
So Pete if this information was released to the Houthi at the time you sent it in an unsecured chat nothing would happen, right? The attack would just go as planned, right? No need to classify that information. No need to keep it secret. Dear lord...
But this is why trump hired hegseth. He can do Fox oppo. It's all going exactly as expected. Want to change it? Grassroots organisation. There are no easy fixes, sorry.
Things you can calculate from the info he released.
1)Exact times when American pilots will be flying over Houthi-controlled territory.
2)Approximate routes - they know where the carriers are, and they know the ETA.
3)That the US has intelligence on the private lives of Houthi leaders
4)That there might be eyes on the ground - they claim to have info on him entering the building
Not to mention that the risk/reward calculation for the strike totally changes if the target can hide before the strike. At that point you're risking American lives for little return.
1/ What is absolutely terrifying in their denials is the revelation that no one in this chat group, not Witkoff, not Hegseth, not Ratcliffe & certainly not Gabbard seems to understand the first thing about classified information.
2/ Hegseth here is claiming there was no classified information disclosed despite the fact that the real names of CIA intel officers were revealed. He is arguing that he didn’t release “war plans” but what was in the Signal chat was the details of the imminent movements of U.S. military forces.
3/ This included information about the strikes, equipment used, intel collected on deciding on targets and the sequence of attacks, gold dust for any Foreign Intel listening in. This seems strong evidence that he does not understand the first thing about defence planning, ops & national security.
4/ But what is particularly terrifying for me is that the people involved didn’t seem bothered at all that they had committed a cardinal sin by talking about military ops on an unclassified app. And these r people in charge of America’s national security.
The problem is that their "defense" is based on semantics. Hegseth sent messages about the attacks before they happened. You don't have to be an expert on security classification to understand this isn't something that should be discussed in a text thread.
And the reason is exactly because of what happened. Someone had access who shouldn’t have. Simple. It proves itself. I’m not sure why we are even having to debate this.
We need to stop letting them lead us around in circles.
The security officers at work used to stress how a tiny bit of information could be the one missing piece of the puzzle & be detrimental or catastrophic to US security.
How any of these idiots forgot that in the 2 months of this admin is beyond me.
Spoke with retired member of military intelligence. Showed the texts. They confirmed that every single line of Hegseth's timed operation list was *at minimum* "classified noforn" and some would be TS.
So...they're lying. (Obv)
I genuinely need someone to explain to me exactly why the leak is the thing everybody's concerned about rather than the govt using weird apps to avoid there being a paper trail of their war crimes or, idk, maybe the fact that they BOMBED A HOSPITAL AND KILLED DOZENS OF CIVILIANS
Reading his response, what is confirmed is that at best he's a narcissistic moron who doesn't have the slightest clue how sensitive information is meant to be shared. Reality is that he's also on top of that in possession of an empty vacuum of integrity. He's so dangerously unfit it's impressive.
Uh, "The Houthis", "their best missile guy going into his girlfriend's building", F-18's attacking (from the carrier sitting out there in the Red Sea) at such and such time, etc. etc.
If Pete can't figure this out as being details, then he should resign. Those were pilots flying into hostiles.
Wondering when some military commanders will get the courage to speak out about his lies and how much he jeopardizes the people serving under their chain of command?
He's so defensive that every time he speaks it makes it worse. Has no one told him how this works yet? I mean there are jerks, and then there are stupid jerks.
Ah yes, stupid drunk with poor judgment committing gravely serious violations wants to keep running his mouth—bro can’t keep his own classified info shut to help himself…which means he had to have had people cleaning up his shit for years…
Texts seem to indicate communication with human sources on the ground with specific knowledge of a target’s social life. Not something you put out if you want to keep an adversary guessing.
When I was in the Navy we had to do annoying online OPSEC modules way too often. Clearly these morons didn’t have to complete that training, because even a newly enlisted E1 knows this behavior would get them a court martial
I suspect - and Goldberg and The Atlantic will prove this out - that they have anticipated these responses, and will simply keep releasing more details, showing the stack of lies at every turn.
Genuinely concerned for Goldberg’s safety at this point.
A simple ink stamp of the Real Madrid football logo on his forearm could result him him being detained in an El Salvador prison without his identity being released.
Of course Drunkard Pete claims that no one was “texting war plans”, and he’s right!
- They weren’t using “text”, it was the “Signal” app
- We’re not at “war”, it was a “Special Military Operation”
- There are no “plans” - MAGAts can’t plan a birthday party!
Not seem to be grasping - or do and don't care - is this is the only place it seems to be have been discussed. They are not even making the claim "it was just an update to senior staff" and they also used official channels. They specially used signal to avoid any future scrutiny if things went wrong
Hegseth is trying to save his drunk ass and he is trying to defame Goldberg to make himself less of an idiot. It isn’t working. There were times, places what type of bombs and who the target was . He is a national security risk. He needs to resign.
/1 Warning: I'm going to get a little pedantic here...but hang with me--there is payoff
@theatlantic.com did use the term "war plans" incorrectly and probably a little cavalierly. "Strike plans" is closer to the mark but still not exactly what was in the chat
/2 A military operation is detailed, directed and disseminated to the participating units in a document called an Operations Order (OpOrd). If there is an air component to the planned operation it is in a section of the OpOrd called the Air Tasking Order (ATO)
I’m a former military spouse and have more common sense about OPSEC than any of these idiots in charge of the DOD.
This is embarrassing, stupid, and incredibly dangerous to our troops.
Why are they using a consumer level encryption platform to chat to each other? So whatever scummy illegal shit they’re up to won’t go on any federal record. They are just a bunch of low level gangsters with the IQ of 5th graders.
No, I mean for the government to access the date. If you look at the cases blocking government action, a common pattern is that the DoJ lawyers are unprepared. They don't know who it is the DOGE administrator or how many flights left the country or have read anti-Trans studies cited as policy basis
Since Pete doesn’t think these are actually “war plans”, can someone please ask him how about if a past president were caught on tape openly showing Iran war plans to guests at his home at Mar-a-Lago?
Might have been more effective if he hadn't spent the last 8 years blabbing on the TV that Hillary should be in jail for retroactively classified emails.
And can we please not ignore, Mr Kegseth, the use of the Signal app, clearly implying the evasion and avoidance of federal records retention and FOIA laws? Pretty please, #WhiskeyLeaks? To say nothing of killing civilians, again, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!
Hegseth literally complaining about a journalist & the publication he works for showing more OPSEC awareness & restraint than him & then trying to frame that as something damning certainly is a take...🙄
Remember if you were on base, and talking to a relative on one of those phones with the red label, and the operator was always listening in and if you mentioned so much as the fact that a jet was flying overhead, they'd disconnect the call on you?
This illustrates the type of contempt they have for their constituents. Just lie to them, lash out at the libs and wear a cross tattoo and you're good.
Hegseth is clearly lying and instead of accepting blame because nobody from Trump down ever will they blame the reporter who they added to their text chain themselves. Just the list unqualified compromised administration in history. America is more unsafe under them.
Or, perhaps it was released for social conditioning. Preparing America for Middle Eastern war on terror, let the Zoomers know the draft is coming. Trump wants you to build the, Grand Gaza Oasis, a fabulous eastern financial metropolis using TrumpTowers enterprises. Could be another felony.
No, let’s get THIS straight. You are an alcohol soaked, addle brained war monger who does not have the first clue on how to do the job that was handed to you on gilded platter.
Imagine if Admiral Kimmel and General Short had been offered a few hours of advance notice about the time, direction, and composition of the Pearl Harbor attack. Would that have had a significant impact on the outcome of raid? Or would they have said, “No thanks. Not enough detail. We’re good!”🙄
Yamoto: our planes leave at 0500, the dive bombers and torpedo planes will strike the island, banzai!💥💥💥
Bill Shirer: should I be on this chat?
Hegspeth - you call those "war plans"? Pathetic.
Classified materials info is no joke. My dad’s entire career was spent working on a variety of intelligence tracking/planning simulations—he was in the Society of Old Crows. I didn’t even realize he wasn’t working on weather satellites until I was out of high school.
so the source on the ground, the guy who reported that the target entered his girlfriend's apartment building and would be there long enough for the strike to happen
i'm sure his name is in the telephone book in Yemen for all to find
That has been my observation of white Republicans who would suck Reagan's left nut right now if he were alive while taking it up the ass by Putin screaming about how their racial purity is being threatened by anyone darker than "eggshell white".
Yeah, adding my voice to the chorus that this is definitely a lie.
Service members who blatantly circumvented proper handling would absolutely be arrested, have their clearance stripped, and probably face court martial. But SECDOOF will of course face no repercussions.
When I read the piece on Atlantics site today, it took me less than 30 seconds to determine who and where this OPSEC was. I have been doing this for a very long time and I have resources most can not access. But, I am no longer active in the military. I know TS items when I see them.
And I cannot believe this large a list has a need to know advance and realtime information.
The key to classified information is a need to know in contrast to want to know.
This shared like a broadcast of White Lotus with commentary and answers to episode one's mystery hook.
I often think of Broderick telling his girlfriend:
"Sometimes I wish I didn't know about any of this and tomorrow it would all be over."
Feel this since Jan 20!
Admittedly, I thought it was a bit much when I discovered that the DOD designated some of their syllabi for foreign language courses as classified, but I followed the damn rules. And I’m damn sure if those were classified, the details Hegseth carelessly passed around were classified.
Anyone who wants a job in this administration, as long as they are ultra loyal to Trump and MAGA, doesn’t need to be vetted or background checked. Therefore we must assume Russia has infiltrated every department in this administration. And it was so easy for them.
saw someone ask some pointed questions about the locations of the mq-9's. Where were they located that they could be on target so soon. Activated while loitering? in an undisclosed base on the saudi side of the border?
Tulsi Gabbard said nothing was classified in that chat- 🙄 WOULD SHE LIE? Under oath?
GOP MO: Deny, lie, divert, blame someone else ie the reporter.
She said she doesn’t know anything about anything bet that’s why that’s why she was hired - was she Putin’s pick?
Those commanders he will be meeting with are going to have big feelings and thoughts about his Signal activity. They might not say it openly, but hot damn, they have thoughts and will hold info back.
Also, EVEN IF WHAT THEY DISCUSSED WASN’T CLASSIFIED, they still shouldn’t have been chatting on Signal — apparently some on their personal phones — and especially not w an unnoticed journalist!
When I worked in the defense industry on highly classified projects, I would reflexively hesitate before telling my partner what I had for lunch. The whole idea of robust security is putting the information boundary far enough from the assets that ordinary mistakes can't cross the gap.
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Nonetheless, if I had told this to a journalist, my ass would have been in deep trouble. Just sayin'.
It's the canonical classified information, the stuff the spies try to get, the place everyone's mind goes to.
They killed a bunch of women and children, so Pete's actually got that part right.
Hmmm, I wonder which one. (Not really)
That is some next-level hypocrisy going on in the DOD.
And all the GOP parrots will repeat this nonsense and feed it to the MAGA faithful, who will accept w/out question.
I'd be embarrassed for him, but I'm already embarrassed for my country.
This guy is my IDOL!!!
That doesn't sound like he was straight when he wrote it.
But, clearly editing isn't his forte...
He kept saying "they didn't react" as if that changes the equation.
- the guy who is only where he is because of his background in media
1)Exact times when American pilots will be flying over Houthi-controlled territory.
2)Approximate routes - they know where the carriers are, and they know the ETA.
3)That the US has intelligence on the private lives of Houthi leaders
Not to mention that the risk/reward calculation for the strike totally changes if the target can hide before the strike. At that point you're risking American lives for little return.
lie, then lie, lie more, and dont stop lying.
We need to stop letting them lead us around in circles.
How any of these idiots forgot that in the 2 months of this admin is beyond me.
https://bsky.app/profile/billybinion.bsky.social/post/3llc7fitzas22
So...they're lying. (Obv)
What say you @schumer.senate.gov
He's never actually seen a "strike plan".
If Pete can't figure this out as being details, then he should resign. Those were pilots flying into hostiles.
What the fuck are these people thinking?
Genuinely concerned for Goldberg’s safety at this point.
#WhatTheHellIsGoingOn?
Sounds like someone is hoping to be out of the country until this blows over.
Dumb+Dumber+ DJ Vance
Dumb+Dumber+ DJ Vance
The names of the pilots shouldn't really concern them very much.
- They weren’t using “text”, it was the “Signal” app
- We’re not at “war”, it was a “Special Military Operation”
- There are no “plans” - MAGAts can’t plan a birthday party!
So see, it’s all Fake News!
@theatlantic.com did use the term "war plans" incorrectly and probably a little cavalierly. "Strike plans" is closer to the mark but still not exactly what was in the chat
The OpOrd and ATO are highly classified (usually TS)
This is really bad b/c crews are airborne and bad things can happen if your target gets details about an incoming strike
Inconceivable that the freaking SECDEF would be doing this on a 3rd party chat app
This is embarrassing, stupid, and incredibly dangerous to our troops.
But thank goodness the guy from Fear Factor has a podcast to explain the world to us!
Maybe he's just too fucking stupid to know better?
President Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath about a blowjob.
🤷🏼♀️
Yes they are. He's not helping himself. 🤣
Dig up stupid .gif
https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/hegseth-waltz-gabbard-private-data-and-passwords-of-senior-u-s-security-officials-found-online-a-14221f90-e5c2-48e5-bc63-10b705521fb7
https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.com/post/3llc6xjpvus23
I see he’s started drinking early today.
But Hegseth says they were sh*tty war plans?
https://bsky.app/profile/jaypaul.co/post/3llbvh5k6jc2f
All evidence shows an extra-galactical SNAFU, but not it is just the media.
‘an outright lie’
check CENTCOM documents. They sent the information to Hegseth
was it marked classified at CENTCOM?
You would reach more people, when you add a good description into the Alt-text field.
That is pretty easy, especially, when your image just contain text.
This way, you support visually impaired people and everyone else, who rely on a good filled Alt-text.
#accessibility
Bill Shirer: should I be on this chat?
Hegspeth - you call those "war plans"? Pathetic.
Trump and his treasonous crew are destroying our country!!
March 29 Tesla Takedown
April 5 protest 50501
i'm sure his name is in the telephone book in Yemen for all to find
not secret, eh
Service members who blatantly circumvented proper handling would absolutely be arrested, have their clearance stripped, and probably face court martial. But SECDOOF will of course face no repercussions.
The key to classified information is a need to know in contrast to want to know.
This shared like a broadcast of White Lotus with commentary and answers to episode one's mystery hook.
And there’s no way to SPIN IT.
one of my fav movies.
I often think of Broderick telling his girlfriend:
"Sometimes I wish I didn't know about any of this and tomorrow it would all be over."
Feel this since Jan 20!
GOP MO: Deny, lie, divert, blame someone else ie the reporter.
She said she doesn’t know anything about anything bet that’s why that’s why she was hired - was she Putin’s pick?
But he may still survive sinking into the swamp.
If he does, we'll know it's because he is standing on Trump's shoulders.