Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the Signal-chat controversy for the first time on Wednesday, acknowledging that an error was made when a journalist from the Atlantic was added to a Signal text chain involving top national security figures in Washington.
Rubio explained to reporters in Jamaica that the purpose of the text exchange on the encrypted messaging app was solely for coordination among officials to facilitate communication with their respective counterparts.
However, the news that potentially sensitive information was shared on a platform previously targeted by Russian hackers, and that a reporter from the Atlantic was part of the chain, caused widespread concern. The Pentagon has clarified that no classified intelligence was disclosed in the messages.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks a joint press conference with Prime Minister Andrew Holness in Kingston, Jamaica, March 26, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Debate between the Atlantic’s reporting and the White House erupted after the Trump administration and Pentagon said that no “war planning” information was shared.
Waltz in a Wednesday tweet said, “No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent.”
The Atlantic maintains the texts did include “attack plans.”
“TEAM UPDATE: 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),” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly wrote in the text exchange released Wednesday by The Atlantic.
“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,” he later added.
But Rubio, in alignment with other administration officials, pointed to the Pentagon’s assessment on whether its leader released classified information and said, “They made very clear that [the texts] didn’t put in danger anyone’s life or the mission at the time.
“There was no intelligence information,” Rubio added.
