Military leak rocks Congress: Republicans demand beefed-up security as Democrats call for firings

The accidental leak of highly sensitive information about airstrikes in Yemen has sparked a wave of outrage in the U.S. Congress. Lawmakers from both parties have called for answers and possible consequences after The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he was mistakenly added to a Signal chat in which classified military details were discussed.

Republicans call for tightening security without advancing trials

Legislators from the Republican Party have emphasized the seriousness of the incident and the need to strengthen security protocols.

Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and former Air Force brigadier general, stressed that while sending a text to the wrong person is a mistake everyone makes, he explained that information should never have been sent over unsecured networks. "None of this should have been sent on non-secure systems. Russia and China are surely monitoring his unclassified phone," he opined.

Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, urged strengthening protection measures to prevent similar situations from happening again. For his part, Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisconsin, said that if the incident was a mistake, there should be "administrative accountability," such as retraining. However, he warned that legal action should be taken if it was a deliberate act.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, offered a more defensive stance, assuring that the administration "has acknowledged it was a mistake" and that measures will be strengthened to prevent a recurrence. "I don't know what else you can say about that," he declared.

Democrats call for firings and more drastic measures

Democrats, meanwhile, have been more forceful in their criticism and have demanded immediate consequences.

Representative Chris Deluzio, a Pennsylvania Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, called the incident "an outrageous national security breach" and called for a congressional investigation. "Heads should roll," he stated.

His colleague Sara Jacobs, a California Democrat and a member of the same committee rejected that this could be considered a simple mistake and demanded dismissals. "We can't chalk this up to a simple mistake — people should be fired for this," she said.

Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat and leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused the administration of "playing fast and loose with our nation's most classified info," which he said puts the country's security at risk.

Details of the chat and the White House's position

Goldberg explained that he was added to a Signal group identified as "Houthi PC small group," where senior national security officials discussed plans for attacks in Yemen. Participants allegedly included Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense; Michael Waltz, national security adviser; JD Vance, vice president; Marco Rubio, secretary of state; Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence; Scott Bessent, secretary of the Treasury; John Ratcliffe, CIA director; and Susie Wiles, chief of staff.

Initially, the journalist doubted the authenticity of the chat, but his suspicions were dispelled when the coordinates and timing of the mentioned attacks coincided with reports of explosions in Yemen. According to Goldberg, attack strategies were discussed within the group, and Hegseth shared operational details about weapons and the sequence of bombings. He further noted that Vance was a dissenting voice in the conversation.

White House response

National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes confirmed that the chat in question "appears to be authentic" and assured that they are reviewing "how an inadvertent number was added to the chain." However, he downplayed the impact of the incident by maintaining that "the ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security."