A journalist at The Atlantic was unintentionally added to a group chat with top U.S. national security officials discussing war plans. And, the legal battle over the Alien Enemies Act continues.
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In a significant security breach, a journalist was unintentionally added to a group chat with top U.S. national security officials to discuss plans to bomb the Houthis in Yemen. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was invited to the chat on March 11 on the encrypted messaging app Signal, which isn’t a secure government network. Goldberg revealed the message chain’s existence yesterday in a story in The Atlantic.
???? Goldberg initially thought the invitation was a hoax, NPR’s Greg Myre tells Up First. However, over the next few days, Goldberg said the texts increasingly looked more real. He told All Things Considered that just two hours after receiving a war plan, U.S. bombing started in Yemen. The National Security Council released a statement yesterday saying the material „appeared to be authentic.“ Based on Goldberg’s account, no senior national security official raised concerns about sharing war plans on Signal.
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., is reviewing whether the White House can deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely-used wartime authority. The Trump administration invoked the state secrets privilege last night and plans to continue withholding key information about the deportation flights that may have violated court orders.
???? The Alien Enemies Act has only been used three times in U.S. history, all when the country was at war, according to NPR’s Joel Rose. The Trump administration argues the act should apply to these deportations as well because it has designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization. A judge reaffirmed his temporary restraining order barring the administration from using the act to deport Venezuelans on the grounds that these migrants have not been given due process to argue that they are not members of the gang. The White House says it’s confident that all of the people deported using the act are part of the violent gang.
