A leak reveals Team Trump’s carelessness, and contempt for allies

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MANY KNOW the mortification of sending the wrong text message to the wrong person. But when the fat thumb is that of America’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, the message is a detailed military plan to bomb Yemen and the recipient is a prominent journalist, the error is not just a cause of shame but potentially a serious breach of national security.

The White House said the messages inadvertently sent to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, and recounted by him at length in a story published on March 24th, appear to be genuine. Many in Washington expressed dismay at the lax operational security of President Donald Trump’s national-security team, as they exchanged classified information over Signal, an encrypted messaging app available to the public, while seemingly unaware they had added a journalist to their chat. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the emoji-laded exchanges is what they reveal about the Trump administration’s thinking.

Mr Waltz and other cabinet-level officials expressed contempt for Europeans and insisted that allies should foot the bill for American military action, while emphasising the need to look tougher than Joe Biden’s administration. The dialogue suggests political satire—perhaps culled from an episode of the “Veep" television series. Even Mr Goldberg was uncertain about whether he was being had.

He wrote: The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen. I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming.