On March 15th, 2025, Washington Post reporter Jeffery Goldberg was added to a group chat by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. The group chat contained signal war plans regarding American strikes on the middle eastern country of Yemen and also may have contained classified information.
Senior Andrew Crum stated, “I think we have to be more careful with who we send our war plans to, I think there’s a lot of hypocrisy on both sides.” Crum compared the group chat being leaked to 2016 Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to discuss classified information. Crum added, “We need to protect our secrets and protect our troops going forward.” Crum believes this sets a precedent of carelessness going forward for the U.S. government and that Mike Waltz should be fired for the error.
AP government teacher Elizabeth Tompkins elaborated, “The controversy of the chat was that Vice President Vance was taking exception with how Europe is handling their part in invasions.” Overall, the operation was successful however the administration officials had not realized that reporter Jeffery Goldberg was in the chat at the time. Tompkins added, “The question people are asking is why is Jeffery Goldberg in Mike Waltz’s phone, how did he get looped onto what is supposed to be a secure thread.” Although the operation was successful in Yemen, the controversy has overshadowed the successful operation as it signals an issue of wider security breaches.
Senior Aiden Moss explained, “Not only is it a symbol as to how incompetent this administration is..but this is on top of the already pushing more situations onto the situation in the middle east.” Moss feels as if the administration should be more secure with American national security, citing what was said in the group chat as “imperialistic.” Moss added, “I think it sets a lot more of a lax precedent, and we need to see more from the Democrats on this insane breach of privacy and security.” Overall, Moss is disturbed by the breach in security and is hoping the new administration can be more cautious when it comes to sharing National Security information going forward.
Overall, the controversy comes during Trump’s first one hundred days of his Presidency, when the president is typically most popular amongst the American public as they are a fresh face in the White House. The controversy could overall impact the public’s opinion on Trump as Americans gear up for the President’s second midterm in 2026, where voters will decide control of Congress with the election serving as a referendum on the current administration.
