Wall Street Journal national security reporter Alex Ward poured ice cold water over one of the Trump administration’s defenses to the shocking scandal that’s been dubbed “Signalgate,” citing military sources to say their response actually made it worse.

Monday brought a stunning article from Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, describing how National Security Adviser Mike Waltz had accidentally added him in a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal that included the “principals committee,” top level national security agency officials in President Donald Trump’s administration, as they discussed war plans and messaging strategies related to striking the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this month.

According to Goldberg’s bombshell report, besides Waltz the chat apparently included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, “and someone identified only as ‘S M,’ which I took to stand for [Homeland Security advisor and White House deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller.”

Goldberg then followed up with a new article Wednesday morning that shared the attack plans Hegseth and others insisted were not in the group chat, including more screenshots of the chats. The headline of the article, “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal,” has been waved around by several White House officials to claim that it is a concession that no “war plans” were shared.

“The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans,’” tweeted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.” Vance and Waltz made similar plays in their own tweets; “NO WAR PLANS,” wrote Waltz. A tweet by the DOD Rapid Response account accused Goldberg and The Atlantic of having “backpedaled the whole ‘war plans’ thing really really fast.”

This quibbling over “attack plans” vs. “war plans” isn’t just a red herring, according to WSJ’s Ward, who has covered national security issues for years, including a previous stint at Politico, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist with his colleagues. To the contrary, wrote Ward, “attack plans” are actually treated as “more sensitive.”

Wrote Ward:

Speaking to military folks all morning. Here’s the difference, per them, on “war plan” vs “attack plan.”

A “war plan” is the full-scope of an operation, i.e. invasion of Ukraine or campaign vs. ISIS.

An “attack plan” is the acute outline of what will be used to attack targets.

Some former military officials said attack plans are *more* sensitive than war plans because they involve tons of specifics and classified details.

War plans, while important and certainly sensitive, tend to be higher-level and far less operational.

Hope that helps.

Ward also shared tweets by CNN reporters Zachary Cohen and Natasha Bertrand that cited sources confirming that the information Hegseth put into the Signal chat was “highly classified at the time he wrote it.”

---

More on the Trump Admin War Plan Leak:

1. The Atlantic Publishes Trump Attack Plans After Administration Denies Group Chat
2. Trump Just Handed His Biggest Enemy in Media a Slam Dunk
3. But How Did It End Up In Your Phone?’ Laura Ingraham Grills Trump NatSec Advisor Over Leak ‘That’s a Pretty Big Problem’
4. Bombshell Text Release Shows Trump Officials Were BSing Senators — Under Oath — Hours Earlier
5. JD Vance Criticizes Trump in Leaked War Plans Group Chat: ‘Not Sure the President Is Aware How Inconsistent This Is’
6. Trump Officials Stumped At Hearing When Asked If Goldberg Can Post Bombshell Texts Since They Claim No Classified Info

The post WSJ National Security Reporter Scoffs at White House Defense That Leaked Chat Had ‘Attack’ Plans, Not ‘War’ Plans: Attack Plans Are ‘More Sensitive’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/of6xbRw