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.

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.

  • Bamboodpanda@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1922·
    13 days ago

    This is absolutely staggering. I’m still trying to process the fact that senior U.S. officials—people at the highest levels of government—were casually texting war plans over Signal, an app that’s not even approved for classified communications. Not only that, but they accidentally added a journalist to the group chat. And then? Just carried on like nothing happened. No one noticed. No one asked questions. They dropped operational details, discussed strategy, named targets, and then capped it all off with high-five emojis.

    It’s not just irresponsible—it’s surreal. This isn’t a parody or a leaked TV script. This happened. They talked about military strikes the same way people coordinate a fantasy football draft. And then, as if to hammer home just how broken our national security culture has become, they celebrated the bombing of a foreign country with emojis. Fire, flags, praying hands, muscle arms. Like they’d just won a pickup basketball game.

    What’s worse—what really makes my blood boil—is that nothing will come of it. Nothing. There won’t be hearings. No one will be fired. There won’t even be a slap on the wrist. The fact that a sitting Secretary of Defense might have violated the Espionage Act by leaking sensitive war plans over an unsecured app to a journalist should be a full-blown national scandal. Instead? Silence. Shrugs. Maybe a Fox News segment praising how “tough” the response was.

    It’s the normalization of absurdity. It’s government by group chat, with the fate of lives—American and otherwise—being tossed around like a Twitter thread. And the most horrifying part? They all seem to think this is fine. Routine. Standard operating procedure.

    This is bigger than partisan politics. This is about the breakdown of basic standards—of competence, of professionalism, of decency. If this doesn’t trigger national outrage, if this doesn’t result in real consequences, then we’ve officially accepted that chaos, recklessness, and emoji warfare are the new norm.

    I’m furious. And if you’re not, you should be too.

    • Carmakazi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      55·
      13 days ago

      They’re going to try and ruin this journalist for embarrassing them, that’s what will happen.

        • AizawaC47@lemm.eeEnglish
          62·
          13 days ago

          I think elimination as in “suicided” seems more likely. I wouldn’t hold my breath when it comes to not taking it so lightly with the journalist, and I am still wondering if this is all satire. But accidentally including a journalist number in signal app is insane. It’s a like a bogus screen cap from Idiocracy.

      • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        13 days ago

        You think now that they sent him classified information that his phone and any devices he ever touched are now confiscated?

        Good thing he’s not like a journalist with sources. Total accident too. Mistakes happen

    • Corngood@lemmy.mlEnglish
      31·
      13 days ago

      nothing will come of it

      You’re probably right, but maybe it’ll cause Trump to turn on Vance a little?

      I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.

      Surely these assholes are going to fall out spectacularly in the near future.

    • NewSocialWhoDis@lemm.eeEnglish
      15·
      13 days ago

      Putting it on personal mobile devices allows it 1) to be more easily exfiltrared to their foreign affiliates, and 2) allows them to get around FOIA. I’m sure most of their actions are being carried out in a similar manner.

      Even if we ever do wrest power from them, we will have to go along without ever knowing everything they have broken.

      • HasturInYellow@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        13 days ago

        Which is why the entire system needs to be ripped out root and all.

        That being said, it’s a risky gambit and doomed to failure and disaster if nothing is ready to pick up right afterwards.

        So get planning everyone. We need a new system. We need details about who is doing what, why and how.

        As far removed from capitalism as is possible/reasonable would be great.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        13 days ago

        Any regular person attempting to get around FOIA by using a personal phone would be immediately fired and possibly face criminal charges.

    • AJ1@lemmy.caEnglish
      91·
      13 days ago

      Man–you use a LOT of long hyphens–How do you even do that?–The long dash–I can’t find it anywhere–Do you have a special keyboard?–

    • MyDogLovesMe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      13 days ago

      It’s “indicators” like this that tell me, with all the implications of it, the USA is(!) over.

      It scares the bejeezus out if me.

      For the country; for the globe.

      • troglodytis@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        13 days ago

        For the country? yeah, we are fucked. Not because of these “leaders”, because of the lead.

        For the world? Na. This is the only hope for humanity. The USA was never going to help fix the damage we’re doing to our habitat. Our fall is the crack in the system that can allow for the needed change.

    • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      13 days ago

      Haha you guys will forget this by next week. Nothing is going to happen.

      Could you imagine if this was the other way around? Then heads will roll. But you Democrats will whine and then move on in less than a week.