Washington — Israeli officials are outraged about the leak of Signal chat messages involving high-ranking officials from the Trump administration, as it contained sensitive intelligence that Israel had shared with the U.S. regarding a human intelligence source in Yemen, according to CBS News.
The Signal chat messages that Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic published this week may not have jeopardized the effectiveness of the airstrike due to the publication’s discretion in sharing information. However, they did endanger a human source who supplied the intel to Israel, which was then relayed to the U.S. for targeting purposes, as disclosed by a senior American intelligence official and a source familiar with the situation in Israel who spoke to CBS News under anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Israeli officials expressed their discontent to U.S. officials concerning Mike Waltz, who was President Trump’s national security adviser. He reportedly established the group chat and inadvertently added Goldberg. Throughout several days earlier this month, the chat participants exchanged messages about potential plans to attack Iranian-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen, who have persistently targeted Israel and shipping routes in the Red Sea.
CBS News contacted the National Security Council and the Israeli Embassy in the U.S. for comment on Friday, but responses were not forthcoming.
On March 15, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent a message to the group chat known as the principals committee, which comprises top National Security Council members, including Cabinet officials and other senior U.S. representatives.
According to Goldberg’s report, one of Hegseth’s messages stated:
“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)
The senior American intelligence official informed CBS News that “Trigger Based” denotes an operation that hinges on a specific condition or occurrence — essentially, a decision to proceed with or abandon an airstrike based on confirming the target’s presence.
On that day, Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets launched from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman stationed in the Red Sea, along with MQ-9 Reaper drones that took off from bases in the Middle East. U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement that they had initiated an operation that involved “precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen to restore freedom of navigation.”
Prior to the decision to strike, Hegseth expressed support for the action as a means to restore freedom of navigation and deter threats, which he asserted had been severely undermined during the Biden administration.
After the commencement of the U.S. airstrikes on the Iranian-backed Houthis, Waltz informed Vice President JD Vance in the group chat that a building had collapsed and that U.S. military forces had achieved “multiple positive ID,” indicating successful identification of the Houthi member or members they intended to eliminate.
Waltz further mentioned, “The first target — their top missile guy — we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed,” as indicated by the texts shared by The Atlantic.
As criticism surged this week towards those involved in the Signal chat, senior Trump administration officials reiterated that the information discussed was not classified and that no sources or methods were compromised. Waltz asserted, “No locations. No sources & methods. No WAR PLANS,” on X Wednesday. “Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent.”
However, sources interviewed by CBS News indicated that Israeli intelligence is upset over the fact that their intelligence shared with the U.S. was made public. The implications of this incident between the U.S. and Israel remain unclear.
CBS News reported on Thursday that President Trump has expressed his frustration regarding the Signal chat leak and is attentively observing developments to see if the situation cools down, based on insights from those close to the issue.
On Tuesday, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, both part of the Signal group chat, provided testimony before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
“There was no classified material that was shared in that Signal chat,” Gabbard informed lawmakers. The next day, while testifying before a House panel, Gabbard reaffirmed that while the conversation was “sensitive,” it did not involve classified information. “There were no sources, methods, locations, or war plans that were shared,” she stated.
Several U.S. intelligence officials and military personnel who spoke with CBS News this week argued that this type of information is typically considered classified, but even if it were somehow unclassified, sharing it would still violate both cybersecurity and operational security protocols.
CBS News highlighted on Tuesday that unclassified internal documents from a National Security Agency bulletin cautioned against vulnerabilities associated with using the Signal app, despite its encryption. This bulletin was widely distributed to NSA personnel a month prior to the establishment of the Signal chat group by Waltz.
The bulletin further emphasized to NSA employees that third-party messaging apps, such as Signal and WhatsApp, are permissible for certain “unclassified accountability/recall exercises” but should not be utilized for communicating more sensitive information.
NSA staff were also cautioned against sending “anything compromising over any social media or Internet-based tool or application,” and advised not to “establish connections with people you do not know.”
