Image source, Getty Images

In the messages revealed by the Atlantic one of the most notable things was Vice President JD Vance's disagreement with Trump's Yemen strategy.

Vance argued, in the messages, the administration didn't need to rush to attack Yemen and he experienced concern over what should be expected of the Europeans and others for the US doing this.

“3% of US trade runs through the Suez. 40% of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message,” Vance reportedly wrote in a message.

“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now," Vance says in a later message. "There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”

After pushback from other members of the Trump administration, Vance appears to address Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying "If you think we should do it let's go".

"I just hate bailing Europe out again," Vance writes.

"This is blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren says of the group chat breach. "Our national security is in the hands of complete amateurs," she said on social media.

"What other highly sensitive national security conversations are happening over group chat? Any other random people accidentally added to those, too?"

Republican Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski said: "Think about what we would do if Biden were president and this came out... we would raise the roof", according to a reporter for Semafor, external.

"It's going to be interesting to see if anybody loses their job over this," she added.

Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono posted: "Egregious, reckless, and illegal. No amount of spin can change that."

Max Matza
US reporter

"It’s baffling. It’s shocking. It’s dangerous," says Samar Ali, a professor of politics and law at Vanderbilt University, saying that the text chain appeared to be "a clear violation of our national security laws and our archive norms".

Sensitive government communications are required to take place in a sealed-off room called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), Ali says.

Ali says these rooms are “virtually impossible to penetrate,” unlike the messaging app Signal.

Ali speaks from experience, recalling when she once used a SCIF to hash out negotiations between the US and EU.

One question Ali raises with me is what accountability those involved in the Signal chat might face? She notes that she would have lost her job and security clearance if she committed similar violations.

Kayla Epstein
US reporter

Some of the Signal messages National Security Adviser Michael Waltz sent to the chat were set to disappear after one week, Jeffrey Goldberg reported in his article for The Atlantic.

That raises concerns about two federal laws that require the preservation of government records: the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act.

“The law requires that electronic messages that take place on a non-official account are preserved, in some fashion, on an official electronic record keeping system," said Jason R Baron, a former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration.

Such regulations would cover Signal, he said.

Official government communications are supposed to be either automatically archived, or the individuals involved are supposed to forward, copy, or preserve the messages.

“The open question here is whether these communications were automatically archived," Baron told the BBC. "It's not clear whether that occurred."

It was also unclear whether the individuals in the chat had taken other steps to preserve the records.

The use of Signal to discuss the military strikes also raised security questions.

“Assuming that any of the conversations on Signal could be considered classified, then under Department of Defense guidance those communications should have taken place on a classified government network, or on a network with government-approved encrypted features," Baron said.

“We should all be concerned about the use of these electronic messaging apps to evade federal record keeping requirements," he said.

Mara Karlin, who served under six Secretaries of State and was assistant Secretary of Defence, told the BBC the story from The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg is "stunning" and "not normal".

Karlin says these types of conversation should take place in a secure space, in the Pentagon or in the situation room in the White House, not in a Signal group chat.

Karlin says she expects both allies and adversaries to pay attention to this, saying they will ask: "Can the US government keep sensitive information in a secure manner?"

Inspector general investigations and congressional investigations will be carried out, Karlin predicts.

"This is historic," she adds.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the journalist who was inadvertently invited to the Signal group chat with US officials, has been speaking with PBS News Hour about his experience.

"They got quite lucky that they included my phone number," Goldberg told PBS News.

"If they were going to pick an errant phone number, I mean at least it wasn't somebody who supported the Houthis, because they were actually handing out information that I believe could have endangered the lives of American service people who were involved in that operation."

Goldberg said he doesn't disagree with the administration's statement that the messages show a debate among senior levels, but says that point matters less when considering the security concerns.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth just spoke with reporters in Hawaii about the messages published in The Atlantic's article.

He mostly deflected questions from reporters, saying Goldberg was not a serious journalist and claiming that he "peddles garbage".

"So you're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist," he alleged.

He then praised the military operation, saying, "We will ultimately decimate the Houthis".

Pressed again on the group chat, Hegseth deflected.

"Nobody was texting war plans and that's all I have to say about that," he said.

On Sunday, the US launched what it described as a "decisive and powerful" series of air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Messages among top White House officials show not everyone was on board with the plan from the start, in part because American actions would help Europe. Officials in the chat, including Vice President JD Vance, said they wanted Europeans to offer something in exchange for the American action in Yemen.

The White House confirmed the content of the messages as reported in The Atlantic was authentic.

We've compiled a timeline of the events leading up to a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, gaining access to a chat for top US officials.

Tuesday March 11: Goldberg receives an invitation request on the encrypted messaging app Signal from an account identified as White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz

Thursday March 13: The editor-in-chief receives a notification that he has been added to a group chat on the app, called "Houthi PC small group". A message to the group said it would be used for the coordination of strikes against the Houthis, "particularly over the next 72 hours", Goldberg reports

Friday March 14: Now on the second day of communications, Goldberg says conversations diverted as an account called JD Vance spoke of a trip to an economic event in Michigan. Attention then turned back to the Houthis, with an account identified as Pete Hegseth showing support for the proposals to be raised with President Donald Trump

Saturday March 15: Goldberg receives a message in the chat about the attacks on the Houthis at 11:44 local time, just over two hours later the account purported to be that of Waltz says the "operation was a success"

Image source, The Atlantic / BBC

Among the details shared by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg from the group chat he was inadvertently invited to are the reactions from White House officials after military strikes were launched.

Michael Waltz shared a fist emoji, a US flag emoji and a fire emoji, Goldberg's messages show.

A user with the initials MAR, whom Goldberg believes could be Secretary of State Marco Antonio Rubio, said "good Job Pete and your team!!”

Pete is in reference to Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense who apparently shared the details of the planned strikes in the Signal group.

Goldberg says the username Steve Witkoff responded with five emojis - two hands-praying, a flexed bicep, and two American flags. Witkoff is Trump's special envoy to the Middle East.

The BBC has not independently verified the individual users in the chat, but the White House has said it appeared to be "an authentic message chain".

Image source, Getty Images

Joe Biden's former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg has just reacted to news of the security breach on his social media account.

"From an operational security perspective, this is the highest level of (expletive) imaginable," the high-profile Democrat says.

"These people cannot keep America safe."

This is the moment senator Chuck Schumer demands a "full investigation" of the Yemen strike group chat.

Schumer says "very harsh consequences" should be faced by any government employee who shared the sensitive military plans.

Reporters on Capitol Hill just asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson about the Signal group.

"The administration is addressing what happened, apparently, an inadvertent phone number made it on to that thread, they're going to track that down and make sure it doesn't happen again," Johnson tells reporters.

Johnson said the Trump administration "acknowledged it was a mistake".

"What you did see, though, I think, was top level officials doing their job, doing it well,” he added.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, Editor-in-Chief of the Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to a group chat with US national security officials.

The White House confirmed the texts published by Goldberg "appears to be an authentic message chain" and they were investigating how Goldberg had been added to it.

Goldberg says he received an invite from an account purporting to be White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz on 11 March, four days before the US launched what it described as a "decisive and powerful" series of air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Also in the chat, Goldberg reports, were accounts that matched the names of Vice-President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Ratcliffe.

He also says top officials from various agencies also appeared to be added.

Image source, Getty Images

We've been talking a lot about Signal, the app that was used to discuss war plans.

It's a free, open-source encrypted messaging app that was launched in 2014.

Conversations within the app are end-to-end encrypted - meaning they can only be read or heard by the recipients.

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

National Security Council Spokesperson Brian Hughes:

"This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security."

White Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

"As President Trump said, the attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective. President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz."

Communications Director to the Vice President William Martin:

"The Vice President’s first priority is always making sure that the President’s advisers are adequately briefing him on the substance of their internal deliberations. Vice President Vance unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy. The President and the Vice President have had subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreement."

Image source, Getty Images

Hillary Clinton has responded to The Atlantic's report of top Trump administration officials using Signal for classified discussions, and inadvertently adding a journalist to the group chat.

On social media, Clinton linked to the article along with an eyeball emoji and wrote: "You have got to be kidding me".

Clinton herself faced a storm of criticism and media coverage over an email server system she used at her New York home while secretary of state. Donald Trump frequently called for her to be jailed over the emails.

Investigations into the emails found that Clinton should not face criminal charges.

• Read more: Hillary Clinton emails - what's it all about?

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Earlier today, I was one of a small handful of reporters of the press "pool" who was at the White House - with the President - as news of the group chat emerged and rapidly spread.

At an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House - ostensibly to announce Hyundai investments in the US - Trump claimed he was not aware of the reports.

"I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic, to me it's a magazine that's going out of business" he said of the outlet which published the original story.

Flanked by Hyundai executives, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Trump, in turn, asked the reporter to clarify what the story was about and prodded him for details.

"It [the story] couldn't have been very effective. Because the attack [on the Houthis] was very effective I can tell you that," he said. "You're telling me about it [the story] for the first time."

Unlike his morning cabinet meeting - in which the press was invited in for 47 minutes of questions and answers - Trump left the Roosevelt Room about eight minutes after this question was asked.

We were ushered out soon after to head to another event, this time celebrating Greek Independence Day. He took no questions.

Trump has no more public events on his schedule for today.

Nomia Iqbal
North America correspondent

Members of both parties are already fuming about this, particularly Democrats.

Democrats Jim Hines, the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released a statement saying he was horrified and will bring up the issue at intelligence hearings this week.

Remember, Donald Trump focused very much on his once rival Hillary Clinton’s emails.

He called for her to be jailed over the use of a private server for official public communications. She was cleared by the FBI, but the stigma remains.

Jeffrey Goldberg pointed this out in his write up of this new incident, saying Trump "repeatedly and vociferously demanded that Hillary Clinton be imprisoned".

Trump himself was indicted in 2023 for mishandling classified documents, but the charges were dropped after he won the election.

Democrats want answers as to how this breach of security happened.

Goldberg actually left the chat group – raising the question of if he hadn’t, how long could he have remained on there for?

We’re now seeing reactions from lawmakers, particularly Democrats, expressing disbelief over the security leak:

• Democrat Jim Himes says he was "horrified" by the reports, saying any lower-level official who did the same thing "would likely lose their clearance and be subject to a criminal investigation"
• "This is an outrageous national security breach and heads should roll," Democrat Chris Paluzio tells Axios
• Another Democrat Sara Jacobs said: "We can't chalk this up to a simple mistake — people should be fired for this"
• Republican Don Bacon says it was an "unconscionable action" to send this information over a non-secure network