It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
Judge James E. Boasberg said top officials, including the defense secretary, the national security adviser and the secretary of state, must preserve the messages they exchanged.
The Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act require officials to preserve communications related to government business.
The military takes extraordinary measures to keep combat operations secret, cutting off outside communications for service members before launching an attack.
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.
President Trump and other officials have given shifting, varied, implausible and sometimes conflicting explanations for how highly sensitive military information was shared in a group chat.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no “war plans” had been divulged in the group chat in which he took part. Chat texts published by The Atlantic show detailed information on the planned strikes in Yemen.
War plan or battle plan? Classified or not? The answers to those questions amount to a distinction without much of a difference.
A journalist’s inclusion in a national security discussion served as a reminder that you might not know every number in the chat — and that could be a big problem.
Democrats denounced the country’s top intelligence officials for “sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior” for discussing secret military plans in a group chat.
A few G.O.P. lawmakers said they would look into the breach, but party leaders largely tempered their criticism of the Trump administration.