Pete Hegseth wanted to strike Houthis before Israel could, according to texts leaked on a civilian text messenger to the chief editor of The Atlantic

Was this a very amateurish performance by the Trump administration how they used chat messenger texting or an intentional leak?

The motto of the Signal messenger is "Speak Freely"

Michael Waltz has an impressive career (e.g. "received four Bronze Stars while serving in the Special Forces during multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa"). Why would he make such a mistake?

"... On Tuesday, March 11, I [Jeffrey Goldberg, chief editor] received a connection request on Signal from a user identified as Michael Waltz. Signal is an open-source encrypted messaging service popular with journalists and others who seek more privacy than other text-messaging services are capable of delivering. I assumed that the Michael Waltz in question was President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. I did not assume, however, that the request was from the actual Michael Waltz. ..."

Pete Hegseth wanted to strike Houthis before Israel could, according to texts leaked to the Atlantic - Jewish Telegraphic Agency "Jeffery Goldberg was “inadvertently” added to a group text with J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth."

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans "U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling."

Signal messenger website homepage. You can't make this up!