Washington — The Signal group chat that conveyed details of the timing and weapons descriptions of a planned attack against the Houthis in Yemen included the names or initials of 18 Trump officials and, of course, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who published his account of the messages.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council has confirmed that the message thread “appears to be authentic,” and none of the reported participants has denied their appearance in the “Houthi PC small group” chat. The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services committee have asked the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General to investigate the incident.
So who are the officials whose contacts appear in the Signal chat, and what do they do?
National security adviser Mike Waltz
Goldberg said that on Tuesday, March 11, he received a connection request on Signal, from a user identified as Michael Waltz. That turned out to be national security adviser Michael Waltz, a top adviser to the president.
“Two days later—Thursday—at 4:28 p.m., I received a notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group,” Goldberg wrote. “It was called the ‘Houthi PC small group.'”
Waltz launched the group’s conversation, saying, according to The Atlantic: “Team – establishing a principles [sic] group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours.”
Saul Loeb / AP
As national security adviser, Waltz is a presidential appointee and does not need to be confirmed by the Senate.
President Trump told NBC he still has confidence in Waltz, saying, “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
Waltz said he took “full responsibility” and that he “built” the Signal chat group, but he also said he did not have Goldberg’s contact information and he didn’t know how Goldberg got into the chat. Goldberg said he received a Signal request from a user identified as “Michael Waltz.” And soon after, a screenshot Goldberg provided said, “Michael Waltz added you to the group.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is the official who sent out the times and types of weapons that would be used in the attack ahead of time, according to screenshots of the conversation published by The Atlantic. Neither the White House nor Hegseth has disputed the authenticity of Hegseth’s communication, but they have insisted it doesn’t constitute “war plans.”
Mark Schiefelbein / AP
As the secretary of defense, Hegseth is the chief defense policy adviser to the president, as well as the second person in the chain of command to Mr. Trump.
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, March, 26, President Trump said Hegseth “did nothing wrong” and suggested that Hegseth himself could lead a review into whether any of the information should have been classified. “Sure, I’ll ask him to do that,” Mr. Trump said. “There are a lot of ways to answer that question. But I’d certainly ask him to take a look at it.”
Vice President JD Vance
Vice President JD Vance also makes an appearance in the group chat, offering his concerns about the operation, such as risking a spike in oil prices. In the chat, Vance’s account said he was “willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself,” while saying “there is a strong argument for delaying this a month.”
Since The Atlantic articles published, Vance said Goldberg “oversold what he had.”
Rod Lamkey / AP
As vice president, Vance is not only second in line to the presidency, but a key adviser on virtually all matters of domestic and foreign policy to the president.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe
CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s name appears in the chat as well, and he confirmed it was him in testimony before the Senate this week. The Ratcliffe comments in the chat included saying that from a CIA perspective, “we are mobilizing assets to support now but a delay would not negatively impact us and additional time would be used to identify better starting points for coverage on Houthi leadership.”
Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
In his congressional testimony, Ratcliffe said his “communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”
“TG” — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
A user called “TG” in the Signal chat appears to be Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, The Atlantic reported. In congressional testimony this week, Gabbard did not deny that she was in the message chain, but she said she was “not directly involved” in the part of the chat that discussed attack plans.
As the director of national intelligence, Gabbard is a Cabinet-level head of the U.S. intelligence community.
Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
Gabbard testified Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee, where she said Signal came pre-installed on government devices.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff
The name Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East and Ukraine, also appears in the chat.
Witkoff was in Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin during part of the period leading up to the attack.
Sources told CBS News on Wednesday that no device the senior envoy brought with him to Russia had Signal on it. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that Witkoff didn’t have his personal device or government phone with him in Moscow, and that he was given access to a “classified protected server” by the U.S. government and was “very careful” about his communications while in Russia.
In his own social media post Wednesday, Witkoff said he had “no access to my personal devices until I returned from my trip.”
Witkoff had little communication in the chat.
Scott B.
Scott B. appears to be Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to The Atlantic. The Scott B. account designated someone from the Treasury Department to be his point of contact for matters related to the strike. The Treasury Department oversees things like sanctions.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles
The name of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is a contact in the Signal group, although the screenshots The Atlantic published don’t include contributions from Wiles’ name.
As the White House chief of staff, Wiles is responsible for managing the president’s senior staff as well as overseeing the execution of his agenda.
“MAR” — Secretary of State Marco Rubio
The name “MAR” appears twice in the contacts list. The Atlantic points out the secretary of state’s full name is Marco Antonio Rubio, and “MAR” chimed in on behalf of the State Department.
On Wednesday, Rubio confirmed his presence in the chat, saying he only contributed twice.
“I can speak to myself for my presence on it — I think my role on it was just speaking for my role,” Rubio said. “I contributed to it twice. I identified my point of contact, which is my chief of staff. And then later on, I think three hours after the White House’s official announcements have been made, I congratulated the members of the team.”
Nathan Howard / AP
In the chain, “MAR” designates Mike Needham to be the State Department’s point of contact, and Needham’s account converses in the chat. Needham is Rubio’s counselor and chief of staff.
Deputy national security adviser Alex Wong
Alex Wong is Waltz’ deputy. In his initial messages, Waltz said Wong was “pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency chief of staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning.”
Joe Kent
Mr. Trump tapped former Green Beret Joe Kent to lead the National Counterterrorism Center, and Kent’s name appears in the Signal chat. In the chat, Gabbard designated Kent to be the point of contact for her Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Others
Others included in the Signal chat are identified as Brian, who referred to himself in the chat as “Brian McCormack for NSC,” Walker Barrett, Jacob and “SM,” who Goldberg reported he believed to be Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
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