US reporter

On 15 March, the US launched what it described as a “decisive and powerful” series of air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Four days earlier, on 11 March, Jeffrey Goldberg writes that he received a connection request on the encrypted messaging app Signal from an account that purported to be White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz’s.

Signal is used by journalists and Washington officials because of the secure nature of its communications, the ability to create aliases, and send disappearing messages.

Two days later, Goldberg said he was added to a Signal chat entitled “Houthi PC small group”.

A number of accounts that appeared to belong to cabinet members and national security officials were included in the chat, Goldberg reported.

Accounts labelled “JD Vance,” the name of the vice-president; “Pete Hegseth,” the defence secretary; and “John Ratcliffe,” the director of the Central Intelligence Agency; were among names in the chat. Top national security officials from various agencies also appeared to be added.

Goldberg says he watched as the group chat discussed targets and timings for military strikes. And those plans appeared accurate when US later launched air strikes on Houthis in Yemen that matched details from the group chat.