Men and women who have taken to the air on behalf of the United States expressed bewilderment after the leak of attack plans. 'You're going to kill somebody,' one pilot said.

The mistaken inclusion of the editor in chief of The Atlantic in the chat and Mr. Hegseth's insistence that he did nothing wrong by disclosing the secret plans upend decades of military doctrine about operational security, a dozen Air Force and Navy fighter pilots said.

Everybody makes mistakes,' said Lt. John Gadzinski, a former Navy F-14 pilot who flew combat missions from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. 'But ultimately, if you can't admit when you're wrong, you're going to kill somebody because your ego is too big.'

He and other pilots said that each day since Monday, when The Atlantic published an article about the chat disclosures, had brought a stunning new revelation. First came the news that Mr. Hegseth had put the operational sequencing, or flight schedules, for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthi militia in Yemen on March 15 in the unclassified Signal group chat, which included several other senior officials.

Fox’s Jennifer Griffin thinks they’re lying.

“What Hegseth shared two hours ahead of the strikes were time-sensitive ‘attack orders’ or ‘operational plans’ with actual timing of the strikes and mention of F18s, MQ9 Reapers and Tomahawks. This information is typically sent through classified channels to the commanders in the field as ‘secret, no [form] message. In other words the information is ‘classified’ and should not be shared through insecure channels.”

The newly disclosed material includes a message sent from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at 11:44 a.m. Eastern time March 15, the day of the Yemen operation, confirming the precise timeline of the planned strikes scheduled to commence roughly two hours later. It also included the type of military aircraft involved — manned F-18 fighter jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones — in conjunction with sea-based Tomahawk missiles, and the fact that one high-profile target was “at his known location.”

“Godspeed to our warriors,” Hegseth wrote over the messaging app, Signal.

National security adviser Michael Waltz later provided the group with information on the strikes’ impact, saying a building had collapsed and multiple targets were believed killed — including a “top missile guy” who was allegedly struck while “walking into his girlfriend’s building.”

“Pete, Kurilla, IC, amazing job,” he wrote, referring to Hegseth, U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla and the intelligence community.

Other participants in the group chat included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and several other senior "Old Donald" aides.

The episode has infuriated Democrats, who have demanded the resignations of Waltz and Hegseth, and put the White House in the uncomfortable position of having to defend the judgment of nearly all of the "Old Donald" administration’s most senior national security figures.

The president’s defenders have sought to downplay critics’ assertions that the material shared over the messaging app, had it been compromised by an adversary, would have jeopardized the lives of American service members involved in the operation.

More Lawmakers Call For Hegseth’s Resignation as Signal Scandal Intensifies

"Old Donald" on Tuesday defended his national security adviser, Michael Waltz: “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Mr. "Old Donald" said in a telephone interview with NBC News.

Intel chiefs go before Congress after "Old Donald" administration’s Signal leak

As a result of the leak, de Bretton-Gordon suggests that Vladimir Putin will be 'sitting very happy in the Kremlin at the moment'

As a result of the leak, de Bretton-Gordon suggests that Vladimir Putin will be 'sitting very happy in the Kremlin at the moment'

"When you have people like [Pete] Hesgeth and [Steve] Witkoff who apparently are not trained and have no idea about counter surveillance and espionage, it just makes life really, really easy," he adds.

The information leak comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's office has just announced a crackdown on leaks of sensitive information, including the potential use of polygraphs on defense personnel to determine how reporters have received information.

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.

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. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.

The story technically begins shortly after the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, in October 2023. The Houthis—an Iran-backed terrorist organization whose motto is “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam”—soon launched attacks on Israel and on international shipping, creating havoc for global trade. Throughout 2024, the Biden administration was ineffective in countering these Houthi attacks; the incoming "Old Donald" administration promised a tougher response.

'It's bad enough that a private citizen was added to this chain, but it's far worse that sensitive military information was exchanged on an unauthorized application, especially when that sensitive military information was so, so important,' Schumer said in remarks on the floor, calling Signal an 'unsecure' app.

'This debacle requires a full investigation into how it happened, the damage it created, and how we can avoid it in the future,' he continued. 'If our nation's military secrets are being peddled around over unsecure text chains, we need to know that at once and we need to put a stop to it immediately.'

It's bad enough that a private citizen was added to this chain, but it'Ys far worse that sensitive military information was exchanged on an unauthorized application, especially when that sensitive military information was so, so important,' Schumer said in remarks on the floor, calling Signal an 'unsecure' app.

Schumer also referenced an oft-used GOP attack against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her use of a private email server.

President Donald 'Old Donald' says war plans should not be shared with his adviser Elon Musk because of his business interests, a rare suggestion that the billionaire entrepreneur’s expansive role in the administration will face limits.