“”, a trio of seemingly harmless emojis. As of March 15, 2025, however, these were used in a text chain with high ranking U.S. government officials to discuss plans of striking Houthi targets in Yemen. After being mysteriously added to this group chat, Atlantic editor-in-chief, Jeffery Goldberg, reported on the leaked messages Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth–as well as other officials–sent. 

What has America come to? A question millions are asking after this incident. Plans that consist of America’s classified information have been leaked to the public. The first problem with this comes down to the fact that this information has been talked about over a series of text messages. The second being how Goldberg even ended up in these chats in the first place. What was said to be a “mistake”, came at a very substantial cost. 

These official texts sent by the Trump administration were claimed to contain non-classified information, with no war plans being shared. However, no explanation was given as to why the app, Signal, was being used to discuss such sensitive information. 

This incident brings about serious questions of how national security is handled at this time. With people’s lives being held at their fingertips, typing away, it brings about concern over how the other affairs of the United States are being handled. The National Security Council has begun looking into the matter, investigating how the journalist was added to the group chat, but it does leave unease to the security of other sensitive information. 

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What started as a simple text resulted in a breach of national security. It just leaves the question: if America’s secrets can get out this easily, what’s next?