By Carol Lucas
You knew it had to happen. It was inevitable; given the players, it was only a matter of time. That it should be a matter of national security wasn’t necessarily on your radar, but given the collection of buffoons put into place by 47, it was clear that some kind of storm was on the horizon.
Of course, FOX News, that source of undeniably factual reporting, dubbed it “The Scandal That Never Was.” I’d be inclined to think their response was meant to be reflective of the Shakespearean play “Much Ado About Nothing.” However, I doubt that anyone of that group ever heard of it, much less engaged in interpretation. They have their own version of drama.
What I am about to say, I have said before … many times. We are a military town, and we supposedly support the men and women who come here to train. These people are ultimately sent out to protect us from the dangers posed by our adversaries, more accurately our enemies. Please keep that in mind as you read.
Let’s look at the situation as well as the players in this complete failure and collapse of sensitive information distribution. From Wikipedia we have this.
From March 11 to March 15, 2025, a group of United States national security leaders used communications services and personal devices to conduct a group chat on the Signal messaging service about imminent military operations against the Houthis in Yemen. A leak occurred when Waltz erroneously added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the American magazine The Atlantic, to the group. On March 15, Hegseth used the chat to share details of the impending airstrikes, including launch and attack times.
Just as an addendum, the name of an active undercover female CIAofficer was mentioned by the CIA Director in the chat, while Vance and Hegseth expressed disdain for European allies.
But what the hell? She’s just a female, and those allies are just a buffer for the US.
The contents of the chat became public on March 24, when Goldberg published a partially redacted transcript in The Atlantic. The White House’s National Security Council verified the chat’s authenticity. After other Trump administration officials disputed Goldberg’s characterization of the redacted sections as likely containing classified information, The Atlantic published the entire transcript on March 25.
With a little tongue-in-cheek applied, the political scandal and U.S. government intelligence leak has been called “Signalgate.”
So on to the boorish dolts who, in their consummate arrogance, brought this shame to our doorstep.
Among the chat’s members were: J.D. Vance, the-vice president; Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense; Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence; and Michael Waltz, the national security advisor. Notably absent was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but I digress.
Their responses when caught with their pants down? Tulsi Gabbard’s was a slew of cowardly dodges — she even refused to admit she was the TG on the chat. No surprise there.
Then there is National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. After initially defending his decision to use an unsecure messaging app to discuss classified war plans, Waltz eventually admitted it was a mistake.
“We made a mistake. We’re moving forward,” Mike Waltz told Laura Ingraham on Fox News last week.
There are other responses from those in the group, all to be seen online. However, I feel it necessary to add Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Ukraine and Middle East envoy. This man was in Moscow when he was included in the group chat. Furthermore, he was hooked up to Russian wi-fi to access.
The exact messages, now known to the world, paint a pretty damning picture of the administration’s cavalier approach to national security. It was Don Bacon, Republican congressman, and a former Air Force brigadier general who said, “The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data.”
When you’ve got members of your own party calling you out, you know you’re in deep trouble … or you should.
An interesting comment I read online said this: “The part people are missing is that they are doing official communications on Signal to avoid those communications being retained. There are Project 2025 training videos that recommend this so as to avoid subpoenas. They can stage a total takeover of the U.S., and there will be no evidence through official channels. This is the part every news channel should be shouting from the hilltops!”
And then there is this. It turns out Jeffrey Goldberg, who knew two hours before the attack was to happen, wasn’t the only unauthorized individual in the Signal group chat. Trump nominee Joe Kent, who has yet to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, was also in the group as they discussed top secret war plans.
This debacle has more far-reaching implications beyond that of a monumental screw-up by a group of individuals so unqualified to be dealing with national security than it is a national embarrassment.
Consider what our allies must be thinking about sharing any sensitive, much less classified, with Curly, Moe, and Larry! When they stop sending us crucial information, it’s time to assess where we are.
The good news is that a lawsuit has been filed. Where it goes is anybody’s guess.
So I am going to leave it with this: If you aren’t enraged by what happened this past week regarding the possible endangerment of those who are members of our Beaufort military community, not to mention our country, then I have a suggestion. Book a one way ticket to Russia or China or North Korea — take your pick! You’ll love it!
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
