Thank you, Jennifer, for this informative post!
Jennifer Griffin
@JenGriffinFNC
There is a debate about whether the operational details Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared in the Signal Group Chat were "classified" or not. So I surveyed a range of current and former US defense officials who agreed "war plans" is not the right term but what was shared may have been FAR MORE sensitive given the operational details and time stamps ahead of the operation, which could have placed US military pilots in harms way.
What Hegseth shared two hours ahead of the strikes were time sensitive “attack orders” or “operational plans” with actual timing of the strikes and mention of F18s, MQ9 Reapers and Tomahawks. This information is typically sent through classified channels to the commanders in the field as “secret, no forn” message. In other words the information is "classified" and should not be shared through insecure channels.
“Attack orders” or “attack sequence” puts the joint force directly and immediately at risk, according to former senior defense official #1. “It allows the enemy to move the target and increase lethal actions against US forces.”
This kind of real time operational information is more sensitive than “war plans,” which makes this lapse more egregious, according to two former senior US defense officials.
“This information was clearly classified,” according to former senior defense official #1.
The Defense Secretary can retroactively declassify information after the fact, but the fact that this was shared in real time before the strike took place makes it unlikely to have been declassified when it was being shared and seen by the journalist for The Atlantic who was inadvertently included in the Signal chat.
According to a second former senior US defense official, when Hegseth says he didn’t release “war plans” that is pure semantics. These were “attack plans.” “If you are revealing who is going to be attacked (Houthis – the name of the text chain), it still gives the enemy warning. When you release the time of the attack – all of that is always ‘classified’.”
https://x.com/JenGriffinFNC/status/1905034953865212260