A series of mishaps were responsible for a Washington journalist being added to a high-level group chat among top US national security officials last month, according to media reports citing an internal White House investigation.
Sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS News and the Guardian that US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz had been trying to add a top spokesman to the Signal chat when he inadvertently added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg instead.
They said investigators found that Goldberg’s number had been accidentally saved in Waltz’s phone as an alternative contact for national security spokesman Brian Hughes.
Goldberg revealed the chat last month in a bombshell article that detailed how officials shared highly sensitive attack plans for strikes on Yemen.
The use of Signal to discuss military plans drew intense scrutiny and a watchdog office at the US Department of Defence is conducting a probe into Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and the use of the chat service.
The findings of the internal probe into the security breach have not been made public. BBC News has asked the White House and the Atlantic for comment.
Waltz told Fox News last month that another, unnamed contact of his was supposed to be in the chat in Goldberg’s place and that “100% I don’t know this guy”.
When pressed by host Laura Ingraham on how Goldberg’s number was added, Waltz responded: “Well, if you have somebody else’s contact, then somehow it… gets sucked in. It gets sucked in.”
Goldberg has previously refuted that explanation, and has said the two have met several times.
“This isn’t The Matrix. Phone numbers don’t just get sucked into other phones.” Goldberg said during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press. “My phone number was in his phone because my phone number is in his phone.”
By Goldberg’s account, he accepted an out-of-the-blue message request from Waltz that he believed to be a hoax.
He watched as, over a period of days, accounts under the names of Vice-President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, CIA director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard exchanged messages about an upcoming US military strike on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, which ultimately took place on 14 March.
Goldberg left the chat after the strikes were carried out, but reported his experience in the Atlantic magazine, later publishing the messages in full. The White House acknowledged that the messages were legitimate.
Sources now tell CBS that the first mistakes happened months earlier.
Goldberg had emailed the then-Trump presidential campaign seeking comment for a story in October 2024. The sources said Hughes was tasked with handling the request, which he messaged to Waltz along with Goldberg’s contact information.
From there, Waltz’s phone prompted him with the option to save the phone number, which he approved. But the sources said the device saved Goldberg’s number under Hughes’s name.
When Waltz went to assemble the Signal group chat in March 2025, Waltz believed he was adding Hughes, the sources said. But it was actually Goldberg’s number added to the conversation.
In the aftermath of the Signal revelations, Waltz took responsibility. “I built the group,” Waltz told Fox News, adding it was “embarrassing”.
He said he asked Elon Musk, tech billionaire and Trump ally, for help looking into the error. Separately, lawmakers in Congress demanded an investigation and grilled the chat participants in hearings. Hegseth is also facing a probe from the inspector general of the US Department of Defense over his use of Signal.
Trump ultimately said he would “look into” the issue.
It’s not clear whether the new reports are the results of those investigations.
By BBC News
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