What The Hell America!

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the major national security breach consuming Washington, large anti-Hamas protests in Gaza, and deadly wildfires in South Korea.

‘We Are a GO for Mission Launch’

On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified before the House Intelligence Committee to discuss their participation in a Signal group chat that appears to have accidentally leaked highly sensitive information about an impending U.S. military strike in Yemen. The scandal, dubbed “Signalgate,” continues to roil Washington as the White House tries to explain how top officials in the Trump administration ended up carrying out one of the most serious breaches of U.S. national security in recent memory.

On Monday, the Atlantic revealed that U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally included magazine editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg on a text chain discussing planned military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. More than a dozen other high-ranking officials were also in the group chat, including Gabbard and Ratcliffe as well as Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Out of concern for national security, Goldberg deliberately left out of his initial report part of the conversation, in which Hegseth had shared what Goldberg described as “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.” However, after Gabbard and Ratcliffe testified under oath before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that no classified information had been included in the chat, Goldberg on Wednesday published the full contents of the chat that he was part of. As Goldberg had indicated, the newly divulged material shows Hegseth discussing sensitive operational details:

“TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch,” Hegseth texted in the group on March 15, ahead of the military operation that killed at least 53 people in Yemen. Hegseth continued:

“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)

“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)

“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)

“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)

“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”

Under the Pentagon’s manual on classification, the director of national intelligence’s manual on classification, and Executive Order 13526, military operations are considered classified intelligence. “When the stakes are this high, incompetence is not an option,” Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on X on Tuesday. “Pete Hegseth should resign. Mike Waltz should resign.”

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday called for similar repercussions while grilling Gabbard, Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, and two top military generals. “It is completely outrageous to me that administration officials come before us today with impunity, no acceptance of responsibility, excuse after excuse after excuse, while we send our men and women downrange to do incredibly difficult, incredibly dangerous things on our behalf,” Rep. Jason Crow said. “And yet nobody is willing to come to us and say this was wrong, this was a breach of security, and we won’t do it again.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and the officials involved in Signalgate have continued to downplay the incident. “There was no classified material that was shared in that Signal group,” Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. Waltz went on Fox News on Tuesday to accept responsibility—while also insisting that he had never spoken to Goldberg before and the journalist’s number had just appeared on his phone.

Neither Waltz nor Hegseth was present at Wednesday’s House hearing, which was scheduled before Signalgate and was meant to focus on global national security threats, but the two Signal participants who were—Gabbard and Ratcliffe—stuck to their strategy from the previous day’s Senate hearing of being alternately evasive, defensive, and combative. Both officials reiterated that no classified information was shared in the chat, a line that Democratic members of the committee repeatedly attacked.

“The idea that this information—if it was presented to our committee—would not be classified, you all know is a lie,” Rep. Joaquin Castro said. “That’s ridiculous. I’ve seen things much less sensitive [intelligence] be presented to us with high classification, and to say that it isn’t is a lie to the country.”

Today’s Most Read

What We’re Following

“Hamas out.” Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Gaza on Tuesday for rare protests against Hamas and the group’s ongoing war with Israel, witnesses said on Wednesday. Demonstrators reportedly held signs saying “Stop the war” and chanted “For god’s sake, Hamas out” in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, where Israeli strikes have destroyed much of the area. More protests continued into Wednesday.

The demonstrations appeared to be the largest against Hamas since the militant group launched its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. And they came just two days after Gaza’s death toll surpassed 50,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

“I think the protests are coming really at an important time where Hamas is really being pushed from all sides—the Israeli government, the U.S. government, Palestinians writ large,” Sanam Vakil, director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program, told NBC on Wednesday.

Deadly blazes. At least six active wildfires continued to spread across South Korea on Wednesday, killing at least 24 people, mostly older adults; destroying hundreds of structures, including an ancient Buddhist temple; and forcing some 28,000 residents to evacuate. The blazes, which began last Friday, are the worst wildfires to hit the country’s southern region in its history.

“Damages are snowballing,” acting President Han Duck-soo said. “There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week.” More than 4,600 firefighters, soldiers, and other personnel worked on Wednesday to assist rescue and control efforts.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, 5 to 10 millimeters of rain are expected on Thursday. These drier-than-normal conditions have worsened the country’s wildfire season; this year alone, South Korea has recorded 244 wildfires, 2.4 times more than the same period last year.

Behind bars. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison on Wednesday. The Terrorism Confinement Center is where, as part of a deal with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, the Trump administration deported hundreds of migrants whom it alleges are part of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.

Trump has invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to transfer these individuals to El Salvador, arguing that he has wartime powers because Tren de Aragua is trying to invade the United States. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg temporarily barred these deportation flights at the request of an ongoing lawsuit, but the aircrafts (already in the air) did not turn around. Trump has since tried to discredit Boasberg and called for his impeachment, sparking a judicial crisis.

Noem’s visit has brought renewed attention to questions about the legal status of the detainees. Washington agreed to pay San Salvador $6 million a year to keep the migrants at the Terrorism Confinement Center. But as these individuals are being held without a sentence, it is unclear how they might be released—if ever. “How can you enter El Salvador overnight and go straight to jail, without committing a crime, and without being sought in extradition?” Salvadoran attorney Napoleón Campos said.

Odds and Ends

Two members of the British Royal Air Force pleaded guilty on Tuesday for criminal damage after they broke and stole a statue of Paddington Bear from Newbury, England, the birthplace of author Michael Bond, who created the cherished children’s literary character. The pair were sentenced to 150 hours of community service and ordered to each pay around $3,530 to repair the beloved character.

Paddington “represents kindness, tolerance, and promotes integration and acceptance in our society,” Judge Sam Goozée said before sentencing the two men. “His famous label attached to his duffle coat says, ‘Please look after this bear.’ On the night of 2 March 2025, your actions were the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for.”