He thought Pete Hegseth's texts about bombing Yemen were fake. So he waited and watched.
Goldberg was sent the plans to bomb Yemen, but kept telling himself they weren't real — maybe some kind artificial intelligence bot. Fifty-three people were soon reported dead.

Jeffrey Goldberg was sitting in his car in a supermarket parking lot, waiting to find out if if the U.S. was going to start bombing the Houthis in Yemen.
If they did, it would verify for him that text messages he thought he had been receiving from Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were real.
Goldberg said he knew the texts were real when he searched the social media site X and saw that people were reporting the effects of bomb strikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 15. He'd seen the plans just a couple hours earlier, but kept telling himself they weren't real — maybe some kind artificial intelligence bot. Fifty-three people were soon reported dead.
Goldberg said Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, added him to to the Signal chat a few days earlier, and the White House told The Atlantic that the chat was real. The incident has raised major concerns among former national security officials and Democrats, who say the information should have only been shared on a confidential government network.
Here is how the incident played out earlier this month, based on reporting from The Atlantic and from the wire service Reuters. The names cited from text messages are Signal usernames as reported by The Atlantic.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
The U.S. designates the Houthi movement, which is based in Yemen and backed by Iran, as a “foreign terrorist organization," in response to a Jan. 20 executive order by President Donald Trump.
"The Houthis' activities threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade," Secretary of State Marco Rubio says in a statement obtained by Reuters.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Jeffrey Goldberg receives a request from Michael Waltz to connect on Signal, an encrypted app popular with journalists and their sources.
Thursday, March 13, 2025
4:28 p.m. Jeffrey Goldberg is placed in a chat called “Houthi PC small group.” The PC likely refers to Washington shorthand for a group of top U.S. national security officials. A user called “JD Vance” messages the group.
4:29 p.m. A user presumed to be Tulsi Gabbard messages the group.
4:38 p.m. A user presumed to be Scott Bessent messages the group.
4:53 p.m. A user presumed to be Pete Hegseth messages the group.
5:24 p.m. A user messages the group with the name of a CIA official.
6:34 p.m. A user presumed to be from the National Security Council messages the group.
Friday, March 14, 2025
8:05 a.m. Michael Waltz texts the group.
8:16 a.m. A user named JD Vance tells the group he is in Michigan, but expresses disagreement about bombing the Houthis.
8:22 a.m. Joe Kent, presumably the acting chief of staff to Tulsi Gabbard, said the bombing wasn't time sensitive, and the U.S. could bomb in a month.
8:26 a.m. A user called John Ratcliffe sends a message with “information that might be interpreted as related to actual and current intelligence operations.”
8:27 a.m. Pete Hegseth sends a lengthy message disagreeing with JD Vance and saying why the operation should move forward.
8:45 a.m. JD Vance tells Hegseth, “if you think we should do it let’s go.”
8:49 a.m. Hegseth responds to JD Vance.
9:35 a.m. “S M,” presumed to be White House aide Stephen Miller, sends a message in support of the operation.
9:46 a.m. Pete Hegseth writes, “Agree.”
Saturday, March 15, 2025
11:44 a.m. Pete Hegseth texts the group a “TEAM UPDATE.” The Atlantic did not publish this text, but described the information contained in it as “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”
1:45 p.m. The time that Pete Hegseth said that people in Yemen would feel the effect of the bombs.
1:48 p.m. Michael Waltz texts an update, describing the operation as an “amazing job.”
1:55 p.m. Jeff Goldberg does a social media search for "Yemen" to see if it was really being bombed.
2:29 p.m. President Donald Trump announces the U.S. is bombing the Houthis in Yemen on his Truth Social account.
2:36 p.m. John Ratcliffe says, “A good start.”
3:10 p.m. A Houthi-run health ministry announces on X that nine civilians were killed in U.S. strikes, according to Reuters.
4:58 p.m. Michael Waltz texts emojis of a fist, an American flag, and a flame.
5:07 p.m. A U.S. official tells Reuters that strikes against the Houthis could last days or weeks.
5:14 p.m. MAR writes, “Good Job Pete and your team!!” (MAR are the initials for Secretary of State Marco Antonio Rubio.)
5:15 p.m. Michael Waltz: “The team in MAL did a great job as well.” (MAL often refers to Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s estate.)
5:18 p.m. S M: “Great work all. Powerful start.”