A federal judge in the United States mandated that President Donald Trump’s administration must retain messages exchanged on the Signal messaging app concerning plans for attacks against the Houthis in Yemen, which came to light after inadvertently being shared with a journalist.
The directive from US District Judge James Boasberg instructs federal agencies whose leaders participated in the conversation—including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe—to preserve all messages sent via Signal from March 11 to March 15, the timeframe during which an editor from The Atlantic recorded activity in the chat.
A lawyer representing the Trump administration previously indicated that federal agencies were already attempting to ascertain which records still existed for preservation purposes.
American Oversight, a governmental accountability organization, has filed a lawsuit against the federal agencies involved in the chat, claiming that the use of Signal, which features automatic message deletion after a specified period, contravened federal record-keeping legislation.
A portion of the screenshots released by The Atlantic
Chioma Chukwu, the interim executive director of American Oversight, stated in a press release.
The White House did not promptly reply to a request for comments.
The Atlantic published messages it reported were exchanged within the group after officials from the Trump administration indicated that the communications were not classified, attempting to downplay the incident’s significance.
The messages unveiled discussions among senior national security officials regarding planned military actions targeting the Houthi militant organization.
Mr. Hegseth provided details about the timing of strikes on March 15, including one aimed at an individual labeled in the chat as a terrorist, just hours before the attack commenced, according to the report.
The revelation of the group chat, along with the accidental disclosure of messages to a journalist, has ignited a growing controversy regarding the Trump administration’s handling of sensitive military and intelligence data.
The lawsuit does not directly address the national security ramifications of the disclosure, but rather centers on American Oversight’s assertion that the messages should be classified as government records that agencies are legally obligated to maintain.
