The Week: What We All Learned from L’Affaire Signal

• Jeffrey Goldberg learned that 90 percent of success is just signing in.

• Damage control is not supposed to cause more damage, but that is what President Trump’s team has created with its reaction to the Signal leak story. Even after Jeffrey Goldberg and The Atlantic released screenshots of the full Signal chat on Wednesday morning, the administration denied that any classified information was inappropriately released. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in particular, poured contempt on the notion that war plans were disclosed, but his assertion that no classified information was disclosed is very hard to square with the fact that he texted his colleagues materials—including the timeline, sequence, and delivery assets of the coming strikes—that were almost certainly developed by and taken from the very CENTCOM planners coordinating the strike operation. As a matter of crisis communications, it would have been better if Trump officials had simply admitted that they made a grievous error and promised to tighten their procedures to ensure that all highly sensitive conversations were conducted in the appropriate venue. The strikes on the Houthi terrorists were, after all, successful, and no American lives were lost in the operation. But the Trump habit of always hitting back at perceived enemies and never admitting mistakes under any circumstances set administration officials up for what was easily predictable: Goldberg’s subsequent revelations proved that the answers of administration officials to the controversy were self-serving, Clintonian, and dishonest. Senator Roger Wicker’s Armed Services Committee, on a bipartisan basis, has rightly requested an inspector general’s inquiry, and now the story will continue.

About the Author

NR Editors

NR Editors includes members of the editorial staff of our magazine and website.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Pete Hegseth

• Jeffrey Goldberg learned that 90 percent of success is just signing in.

• Damage control is not supposed to cause more damage, but that is what President Trump’s team has created with its reaction to the Signal leak story. Even after Jeffrey Goldberg and The Atlantic released screenshots of the full Signal chat on Wednesday morning, the administration denied that any classified information was inappropriately released. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in particular, poured contempt on the notion that war plans were disclosed, but his assertion that no classified information was disclosed is very hard to square with the fact that he texted his colleagues materials—including the timeline, sequence, and delivery assets of the coming strikes—that were almost certainly developed by and taken from the very CENTCOM planners coordinating the strike operation. As a matter of crisis communications, it would have been better if Trump officials had simply admitted that they made a grievous error and promised to tighten their procedures to ensure that all highly sensitive conversations were conducted in the appropriate venue. The strikes on the Houthi terrorists were, after all, successful, and no American lives were lost in the operation. But the Trump habit of always hitting back at perceived enemies and never admitting mistakes under any circumstances set administration officials up for what was easily predictable: Goldberg’s subsequent revelations proved that the answers of administration officials to the controversy were self-serving, Clintonian, and dishonest. Senator Roger Wicker’s Armed Services Committee, on a bipartisan basis, has rightly requested an inspector general’s inquiry, and now the story will continue.