this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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Summary

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied allegations that he texted classified war plans to a Signal group chat that mistakenly included The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg.

The National Security Council confirmed the chat’s authenticity but called the inclusion of Goldberg an inadvertent mistake.

Lawmakers from both parties demanded investigations, with former CIA Director Leon Panetta warning of potential espionage violations.

Hegseth dismissed Goldberg as a "deceitful" journalist. Trump denied knowledge of the incident.

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 1 week ago

Working the playbook. Step 1: Deny

[–] [email protected] 114 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

The classified plans aren't allowed out of the SCIF and the phone isn't allowed in the SCIF. Anything you learn in the SCIF cannot be stored, shared, or spoken about outside of a SCIF especially on electronic media. If anyone in the military did this, like lets say Chelsea Manning, and shared it with a journalist, like say Julian Assange, they would end up in prison for a while.

[–] [email protected] 77 points 1 week ago (7 children)
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[–] [email protected] 91 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Getting blackout drunk and sending texts isn't uncommon for raging alcoholics. Source: I used to be an alcoholic (sober for 6 years)

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 week ago

6 years strong! Wooooo! Congrats!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago

6 years, wow. Nice one. Keep it up.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 week ago (3 children)

To be clear, Hegseth (the guy with a history of getting blackout drunk) isn't the same as Michael Waltz, the guy who invited Goldberg to the chat.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/

https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/03/jeffrey-goldberg-group-chat-broke-internet/682161/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Waltz

Waltz, unlike Hegseth, is not a random idiot, he definitely knows better.

"Waltz received four Bronze Stars while serving in the Special Forces during multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. He served in the Bush administration as a defense policy director in the Pentagon and as counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney."

As far as Hegseth (or any of the rest of them for that matter) was concerned, the list was all vetted and pre-approved people.

The fact that NONE of them actually vetted the list before saying anything speaks volumes.

They went down the line asking "Hey, who else in your department needs to be a contact on this?" and they all sounded off one by one, except Goldberg.

Nobody thought to ask "Hey, J.G., we haven't heard from you yet. In fact, wait, who is J.G.?"

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Waltz, unlike Hegseth, is not a random idiot, he definitely knows better.

I'm pressing X to doubt so hard rn

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You don't get to work for Cheney if you're an idiot.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Please, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Waltz as rebuking proof to your statement

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That was ages ago. Each covid infection causes brain damage, each person has had covid 4 to 8 times by now, and older people are hurt the most by covid... So even if the guy was smart 30 years ago, we can't assume he is smart today

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago

Having complete morons in charge does confer particular tactical advantages.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 week ago (1 children)

downs entire glass of whiskey "wasn't me"

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It was really the whiskey's fault when you think about it.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Pete blames it on his wife who he's going to beat later on. She should have told him that journalists can take screenshots.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Even if everyone in the chat had a need-to-know, you do not use insecure 3rd-party software for classified communications. Secure networks already exist for this.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not to mention why they are using it in the first place... so they can't be FOIA'd

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Doesn't protect from FOIA, if you use your phone for official communication and it stores records, your phone can be FOIA'd.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Isn't the issue that Signal messages aren't stored on the phone and can be set to auto delete after some time? So there's no tracking of official federal business? Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 week ago (1 children)

He's going with the Shaggy defense? "It wasn't me". I mean, it works for them. It will probably all blow over because no one is going to do anything. But this should absolutely destroy him.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

🎵Journalist caught me on Signal (It wasn't me)

He saw me schemin' on Yemen (It wasn't me)

Even list of ordinance (It wasn't me)

He even caught me on a screenshot (It wasn't me)

He saw the bombs dropping on Sanaa (It wasn't me)

Heard the words the CIA told me (It wasn't me)

Late night host laughter getting louder (It wasn't me)

Shouldn't have drunk that vodka!🎶

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

"Uh, wasn't me." -Sec Def

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 week ago

"You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again...This is a guy who peddles in garbage.

Hegseth then added, "oh wait, that's me."

[–] [email protected] 96 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You dumb fuck, there are screenshots of all of it, plus your own people admitted it

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Don't forget Tuli was on the chat too, I sure do feel safe with our inept leaders.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago

Definitely showing her whole anti war schtick was always bullshit. JD Vance was the only one pushing back in that thread, and not for the right reasons.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Prove that the sender of that message doesn't match the cryptographic fingerprint of Hegseth. If he didn't send it, then it wont match.

Signal allows you to verify all your contacts in the group chat.

This is so easy to solve. Jfc

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007060632-What-is-a-safety-number-and-why-do-I-see-that-it-changed

The journalist just has to show the safety number of the person who sent it, and hegseth has to verify it with his device. They're obviously already in each others contacts, or at least are aware of each other's presence in the group chat. Its pretty hard to ignore some random journalist entering the chat since it alerts the entire group.

What makes signal great is, yes, privacy, but also the authentication of your contacts. You know you can't possibly be talking to someone else's device if you have verified their safety number.

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