NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our weapon is surprise…surprise and fear…fear and surprise…. Our two weapons are fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency…. Our three weapons are fear, and surprise, and the ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope…. Amongst our weapons…are fear, surprise, ruth… Amongst our weaponry…are such elements as fear… I’ll come in again – Monty Python
The Issue
Atlantic Magazine Editor Jeff Goldberg has to worry now. He was privy to an ongoing national security text conversation, held on a commercial (not government) text platform called Signal. We can all get that same app on our phones. He was added to the “chat” by the National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, Mike Waltz. It was all about an attack on Houthis in Yemen, and included when, how, and with what weaponry the attack would be launched.
The issues: how does a magazine editor accidently get added to a “chat” among the nation’s most important leaders, and why were national secrets revealed over a commercial “messaging” service? Participating on the Signal “chat”: the Vice President, the White House Chief of Staff and the National Security Advisor, the Directors of National Intelligence and of the CIA, the Secretaries of Defense and Treasury; and other American leaders. And the secrets were: the time, place, and specific weapons to be used in the attack, and direct criticism of the President by the Vice President.
The “Apology”
Goldberg carefully wrote his first article about the “chat” on Monday. He left out direct “battle” information, and he kept named CIA operatives anonymous. But instead of the White House answering with some kind of apology, or explanation; they launched an attack against Goldberg. They claimed, over and over again, that no “classified” information was on the chat.
So, Goldberg released the battle information today: the military details of the attack, prior to and while the attack was actually in progress. It was all from the “chat”, directly from the Secretary of Defense. Goldberg, and anyone with access to the “chat” or the chat members private phones, knew when the bombs were falling, who was going to get hit, and what kind of bombs would hit them.
And we now know that Goldberg, sitting in a Safeway parking lot, wasn’t the only one in a vulnerable public place receiving this information. The Vice President was driving around in Michigan, the Director of National Security was in Asia, and the US envoy to the Middle East was in Russia, and quite possibly, in the Kremlin itself. They were all on the own, personal, private phones.
The Blame
The White House effort to smear Goldberg continues. They aren’t dealing with the clear issues of poor security; using the “app” itself, including a civilian (a reporter) in the “chat”, and using personal phones vulnerable to hacks. There’s no discussion about the danger that our military personnel (and our CIA covert operatives) might have been in. Instead they continue to say how much they dislike Mr. Goldberg. Mike Waltz, National Security Advisor, has taken responsibility for “inadvertently” adding Goldberg. But, it’s one of those “take all the responsibility, but none of the blame”. Waltz hinted that there might have been some subversion of his process by The Atlantic.
But what is the reality here? Hopefully military operations are “secret”, at least, before they happen. Hopefully, the National Security apparatus takes care of our “secrets”. Surprise is a big step towards success in the military, and, even more importantly, protects the lives of the service members involved.
So when all of those “chat” members claim that the details of the attack on the Houthis weren’t classified, they sound foolish. If they weren’t classified, then our leaders are failures. If they were classified, then, they were “cavalier” with the information, and therefore with the safety of our military. Or, as Congressman Castro of Texas bluntly stated: “This information was and is classified, and to say different is to lie to the American people.”
The FBI
So why should Jeff Goldberg be worried? Because, regardless of the fact that all of the “principals” in the conversation said the information Goldberg revealed today was “not classified”, it clearly was. And Goldberg, even though he was a private citizen who received the information without subversion or malice, revealed it to the public.
I’ve always had a great deal of respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They made an incredible turnaround from the pre 9-11 era. They have protected the United States from almost all internal and external attacks. But the Trump FBI today is the FBI of retribution and revenge, led by Trump loyalists Kash Patel as Director, and Pam Bondi at Attorney General. Their actions make it clear that they will do whatever is necessary to defend the Trump White House from all enemies, personal, private or public. And what the law currently says really has little to do with how they will act.
Goldberg is relying on the US Supreme Court ruling in United States v New York Times; that a reporter who obtains classified information without committing a crime (someone hands it to them) can publish that information. The Court case is better known as the Pentagon Papers case, when Daniel Ellsberg an employee of the Defense Department, gave the Times classified information. They published it. Mike Waltz handed Goldberg the current information. Goldberg committed no crime, in fact, he was very surprised to be included in the “chat”. And he published it, and after all of the “blowback”, published even more.
Pay-Back
But he should be ready for the dark-early morning knock on the door from the FBI. Goldberg needs to wear his clothes to bed (they won’t give him a chance to change), and he needs to make sure the dogs are carefully put up at night. Because there’s a better-than-even chance that there will be a five AM pounding on his door, a full SWAT team in the front yard, and a TV crew setup ready to record his arrest.
It won’t be Monty Python’s comical “Spanish Inquisition”. It will be a deadly serious, locked and loaded FBI arrest team. And while it’s likely that Goldberg will be found innocent of any wrongdoing, the Trump Justice Department will exact their revenge for embarrassing the Administration. The handcuffs, the locked and loaded automatic weapons, the “perp walk”, the “strip search”, will be punishment enough. It will serve as a deterrent to the next reporter who finds another dangerous flaw of hubris; of cavalier attitudes towards our National security. While no one might “expect the Spanish Inquisition”, Goldberg should certainly expect the FBI.
