The Amazing Security Breach Involving J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard

This article was first published by William Dowell's Substack column, A Different Place.

What possessed Trump’s top security officials to have a highly classified group chat over an insecure commercial communications network that they had to know was probably being monitored by hostile foreign intelligence services?

The subject, last March 14, was an upcoming US military attack against Yemen, where Houthi rebels have been threatening ships headed to or coming through the Suez Canal. The participants included US National Security Adviser Michael Walz, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard.

A front row seat to an American journalist

The top secret classified discussion was not only discussed outside secure US government communications channels, it also gave a front row seat to a journalist, Jeffrey Golberg, editor of the Atlantic Magazine. Goldberg was surprised as anyone else at being asked to participate as a ringside observer to one of Donald Trump’s displays of American firepower in the hyper-volatile Middle East.

The group chat, which involved cabinet members and advisers at different locations should have been classified “Top Secret.” In other words, if the information discussed were leaked, it could not only cause significant damage to U.S. National security, it could also put the lives of American servicemen at risk as they were about to go into action.

Goldberg’s account of the extraordinary security breach avoided revealing any classified information, but it raised serious questions about the participants and how the White House has been handling classified information.

How could Tulsi Gabbard, nominally Director of National Intelligence, or Pete Segeth, who is supposed to be Secretary of Defense, not know that you can’t discuss potentially dangerous secrets over a commercial communications channel that hostile foreign intelligence agencies have almost certainly penetrated?

No hoax, but a very real security breach

Initially, Goldberg had trouble convincing himself that the discussion was real and not just another case of trolling by a foreign intelligence service trying to embarrass the Trump administration, which has lately been acting as the Kremlin’s cheerleading squad on the Potomac. In fact, it soon emerged that the security breach was very real. Steve Witkoff, a real estate tycoon turned diplomat, who is now serving as Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, accessed his part of the conversation via a Signal connection in Moscow.

Although Goldberg did not publish any of the classified information he heard on the call, the breach revealed embarrassing comments by Vice President J.D. Vance who suggested that President Donald Trump, who lately has been characterizing Western Europe as a parasite taking advantage of the U.S., was most likely unaware of the contradictions in his own thinking. Why should the U.S. help European shipping when there was no monetary gain?

A Vice President irritated by Washington's willingness to help Europe

Vance’s argument was based on the fact that 40 percent of the shipping that goes through the Suez Canal is European, and only around 3 percent is actually involved with the United States. It clearly irritated Vance that the U.S. Navy might find itself helping Europe with no monetary gain.

Vance’s other concern was that the attack might inadvertently lead to a hike in oil prices. Vance also pointed out that the average American has no idea of who the Houthis are, and it might make sense to educate the public before launching the bombing strike against Yemen. He suggested delaying the attack for a month.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth countered that the situation was not likely to change in a month, and any hesitation would look indecisive even if the attack didn’t make any sense. Vance, who at the time was in Michigan at “an event” and was sending his responses remotely, said he was willing to go along with the rest of the group’s decision.

A chat of interest to foreign intelligence agencies

While no classified information was revealed, the chat was undoubtedly of interest to foreign intelligence agencies in helping to profile the various participants involved. Who were the leaders? Who were the sheep, ready to reverse themselves if faced with moderate opposition?

The security breach was mostly embarrassing because it revealed that Vance is not very confident that Trump knows what he is doing but is more than willing to reverse himself if he faces opposition.

A staunch dislike for the Europeans

It also revealed the extent to which Vance feels irritated at the prospect that the U.S. might extend even modest help to America’s former European allies. From Vance’s comments, it is apparent that at least the way he sees it, Europe no longer has any real importance.

Attacking the messenger for their incompetence...

Once the details of the meeting were made public, Trump’s team immediately attacked Goldberg for not warning the other members of the group that they had inadvertently created a security breach. Trump said he hadn’t heard about the breach until it made headlines.

The US president added that he still had confidence in his national security advisor, Mike Walz, who was apparently learning on the job. Trump seemed to have no problem with the group chat being conducted over a commercial server rather than secure U.S. communications channels.

A likely reason is that Trump and his cabinet both tend to see the U.S. Government itself as a potential threat - the “Deep State.” Since they don’t really trust their own government, normally secure channels are bound to seem less secure.

In this case, the commercial communications system that they did trust was Signal, a system favored by journalists because it encrypts messages and offers at least a minimal degree of protection against identifying sources. Russian hackers have reportedly been breaking Signal’s encryption system on an off-and-on basis in order to spy on Ukraine.

Who made the decision to invite an outside journalist?

An even more intriguing question, however, is who made the decision to invite an outside journalist to sit in on the meeting?

The initiative certainly did not come from Goldberg, who was as surprised as anyone about being included. Someone in the White House must have thought that the public should know what was taking place and added Goldberg as a relatively innocuous observer.

At the very least, the breach can be expected to fuel new waves of paranoia in Trump’s inner circle. If there is a White House mole in the system, where is he or she likely to strike next?

Foreign correspondent and author William Dowell is Global Geneva's America’s editor based in Philadelphia. Over the past decades, he has covered much of the globe for TIME, ABC News and other news organizations.