Trump, take our US security seriously
By: Dace Potas
USA Today
..... On March 24, [2025] The Atlantic published a story outlining how their editor-in-chief was accidentally included in a Signal chat where Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other national security advisers discuss air strikes against the Houhtis in Yemen.
.....
This is a Trump administration conversation about military action that played out on publicly texting app. and it included a journalist who was added to the chat.
..... Naturally, such a ridiculous story was met with a flurry of jokes and memes scattered across social media. However, this is big deal, and the fact that this was allowed to happen should result in firings and serious investigations.
..... Instead, the Trump administration is doing what it does best: shrugging off the incident and lying about it. And, as always, Republican leaders are just letting it happen, refusing to criticize their won or admit mistakes.
..... Here is a quick, view of how our nation's security leaders respond:
* Hegseth claimed that the story was fabricated, instead opting to lay into Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic editor-in-chief who wrote the story. "you're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes," Hegseth said March 24. [2025] "this is a guy who peddles in garbage."
* National security adviser Mike Waltz, who reportedly is the culprit who added Goldberg to the chat, instead opted to suck up to Trump rather than take responsibility for his actions.
* CIA director John Ratcliffe highlighted that Signal has been used by officials going back to the Biden administration but did not comment on whether it was appropriate to plan military strikes on the platform.
* Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, on the other hand, stated, "I can attest to the fact that there were not classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time." Gabbard's claims go directly against those of Goldberg, who claimed that the chats included information on the timing of strikes, weapon packages being deployed and the Houthi targets under attack.
..... All of these different individuals in the Trump administration are approaching the scandal with various attempts to downplay the administration's liability. It would be refreshing for one of them to own up to the fact that this was a massive mistake and take on the countability Republicans routinely criticize Democrats for not having.
..... People will try to differentiate this from the Hillary Clinton email scandal, and while there are some differences, both instances involve the mishandling of classified information.
..... The irony in this case is that many of the people who spent years criticizing Clinton did the same thing and now are trying to avoid being held accountable.
..... It's not hard to envision how this could have gone differently had a different person been accidentally added to that chat or a different journalist with less caution over what materials they release.
..... Americans deserve an administration that will ultimately own up to its mistakes. Realistically, this is a scandal that should see people fired, but at the very least, it would be nice to see some accountability.
..... As is, Hegseth and the rest of the people involved are just proving Democrats are right to claim that this administration is unqualified. So is any Republican or Trump supporter who will rush to dismiss this.
..... A big piece of proving they are capable of overseeing national intelligence is taking seriously leaks of information, particularly when they come from within the administration. without such reflection, Americans have no reason to believe that these errors won't happen again or that they haven't already happened several times.
..... The least the people involved could do is say "we screwed up,: Thankfully, in this case, the screwup didn't lead to any poor outcomes, but it should serve as a wakeup call to the Trump administration. They should probably clean up their won house before yelling about the mess they see in others.
..... Dace Patas is an opinion columnist for USA Today and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.