The Atlantic Signal group chat: Full chat on US Houthi attack released as Marco Rubio admits ‘big mistake’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a group chat on encrypted messaging service Signal about attack plans against the Houthi rebels was set up for the purposes of co-ordinating but someone “made a big mistake” by adding a journalist.

Mr Rubio, speaking to reporters on a visit to Jamaica, said the White House was looking into how it happened.

He added there were no war plans on the chat and the Pentagon has said the information was not classified.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth texted about plans to kill a Houthi militant leader in Yemen two hours before the surprise military operation, according to screenshots of the chat released by The Atlantic on Wednesday.

The magazine on Wednesday published the entire Signal chat among senior national security officials.

The revelation that sensitive attack plans were shared on a commercial messaging app, possibly on personal mobile phones, has prompted calls from Democrats that members of US President Donald Trump’s national security team be fired over the leaks.

Mr Trump’s administration has sought to contain the fallout from the revelation that the March 15 chat included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg on the encrypted messaging app Signal.

Mr Hegseth has repeatedly denied texting war plans, and Mr Trump and his top advisers are saying no classified information was shared, bewildering Democrats and former US officials who regard timing and targeting details as some of the most closely held material ahead of a US military campaign.

“I think that it’s by the awesome grace of God that we are not mourning dead pilots right now,” Democrat Jim Himes of Connecticut said at a hearing of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

The chat did not appear to include any names or precise locations of Houthi militants being targeted or to disclose information that could have been used to target US troops carrying out the operation.

The White House played down the idea that Mr Hegseth or others would lose their jobs, saying Mr Trump retained confidence in them.

Mr Trump also played down the Yemen leak, saying on a podcast “there was nothing in there that compromised ... the attack”.

Mr Hegseth’s text started with the title “TEAM UPDATE” and included these details, according to The Atlantic:

“TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch”

“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)“

“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)“

“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)“

“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)“

“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”

“MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)“

“We are currently clean on OPSEC”

“Godspeed to our Warriors.”

Hours later, national security adviser Mike Waltz confirmed to the group the killing of the Houthis’ top missile expert.

“We had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed,” Mr Waltz wrote.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on X that Mr Hegseth was “merely updating the group on a plan that was underway; had already been briefed through official channels”.

Senior US national security officials have classified systems that are meant to be used to communicate secret materials.

But CIA director John Ratcliffe testified on Tuesday at a Senate hearing that Mr Waltz set up the Signal chat for unclassified co-ordination and that teams would be “provided with information further on the high side for high-side communication”.

Mr Waltz has said he took full responsibility for the breach as he had created the Signal group.

But on Wednesday, Mr Waltz also played down the disclosure, saying on X: “No locations. No source; methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent.”

with AP