By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON — A federal judge instructed President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday to retain all communications regarding assault strategies against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, which were accidentally disclosed to a reporter via the Signal messaging application.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has ordered federal agencies involved in the chat—where officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were participants—to preserve every message exchanged via Signal between March 11 and March 15. This directive comes after an editor at The Atlantic reported on the discussions within this timeframe.
An attorney representing the Trump administration previously stated that federal agencies had commenced efforts to identify which records remained extant with the purpose of ensuring their preservation.
On Tuesday, American Oversight, a watchdog organization focused on governmental accountability, filed a lawsuit against several federal agencies over their usage of Signal. They claim that utilizing this app, which deletes messages after a set period, breaches a federal regulation concerning the maintenance of records.
“We appreciate the judge’s decision to stop any additional damage to these vital documents. It’s essential that citizens have insight into the processes behind choices regarding warfare and national safety—accountability shouldn’t vanish merely because communications were programmed to self-destruct,” stated Chioma Chukwu, who serves as the interim executive director at American Oversight.
The White House has not yet responded to requests for comments.
On Wednesday, The Atlantic magazine released communications it claimed were circulated within the group following statements from Trump administration officials who asserted that the materials were not classified, aiming to minimize the significance of the security incident.
The communications disclosed conversations between high-ranking national security officers concerning proposed military operations directed against the Houthi militant organization. Hegseth provided details regarding the scheduling of assaults set for March 15, which included an operation targeted at an individual referred to in the conversation as a terrorist, just prior to when the assault commenced, as stated in the report.
The existence of the group chat, and the inadvertent disclosure of messages to a journalist, has sparked a brewing controversy over the Trump administration’s treatment of sensitive military and intelligence information.
The legal case had nothing to do with the national security aspects of the disclosed information. Instead, it centered on American Oversight’s assertion that the communications in question qualify as official government records which federal agencies must retain according to law.
(Reported by Andrew Goudsward; Edited by Scott Malone and Deepa Babington)
