A shambolic leak reveals Team Trump’s contempt for allies

MANY know the mortification of sending the wrong text message to the wrong person. But when the fat thumb is that of America’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, the message is a detailed military plan to bomb Yemen and the recipient is a prominent journalist, the error is not just a cause of shame but potentially a serious breach of national security.

The White House said the messages inadvertently sent to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, and recounted by him at length in a story published on Mar 24, appear to be genuine. Many in Washington expressed dismay at the lax operational security of President Donald Trump’s national security team, as they exchanged classified information over Signal, an encrypted messaging app available to the public, while seemingly unaware they had added a journalist to their chat.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the emoji-laden exchanges is what they reveal about the Trump administration’s thinking. Waltz and other Cabinet-level officials expressed contempt for Europeans and insisted that allies should foot the bill for American military action, while emphasising the need to look tougher than Joe Biden’s administration.