US Secretary of Defense kills Houthi rebel leader, Trump security team chat text released
A chat room where the US Secretary of Defense sent a text message to execute the order to kill the Houthi rebel leader in Yemen with a Leaper drone MQ-9 has been released.
The original text of the US Secretary of Defense chat room, which was first released by The Atlanta, which contains the order to direct and execute external military operations, excluding the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, is as follows.
<Pete Hegseth
Team Update:
TIME NOW (1144et): The weather is good. We just confirmed with CENTCOM that we are GO for the mission launch. 1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st Strike Package)
1345: "Trigger-based" F-18 1st Strike Window begins (target terrorist @ his known location so must be on time) - also launch strike drones (MQ-9s)
1410: More F-18s launch (2nd Strike Package)
1415: Drones hit target (this is when the first bomb is definitely going to land, until the previous "trigger-based" target is)
1536: F-18 2nd strike begins - also launch first sea-based Tomahawks.
More news (per timeline)
We are currently clean on OPSEC.
God bless our warriors. 11:44 AM>
<JD Vance (Vice President)
I will pray for victory
12:13 PM>
<Michael Waltz (White House National Security Adviser)
Vice President. The building is down. Had multiple positive IDs. Pete, Kurilla, IC, amazing.
1:48 PM>
<JD Vance
What?>
<Michael Waltz
Typing too fast. The first target, the missile launcher, had a positive ID as he walked into his girlfriend's building and now it's down.
2:00 PM>
<JD Vance
Great
2:01 PM>
<John Ratcliffe(CIA)
Good start
2:36 PM>
<Michael Waltz
(Emoconty fist) US (Emoconty flame)
4:58 PM>
<March
Great job Pete and your team!!
5:14 p.m.>
<Michael Waltz
MAL team did a great job.
5:15 p.m.>
<SM
Great job everyone. Strong start.
5:18 p.m.>
<Pete Hegseth
CENTCOM was on point. Great job everyone. More airstrikes are continuing tonight for a few hours and we'll have a full initial report tomorrow. But timely, on target, and so far, good reads.
5:20 p.m.>
<Susie Wiles (Chief of Staff to the President)
Kudos to everyone - especially those in theater and at CENTCOM! They're amazing. God bless them. 5:21 PM>
<Steve Witkoff (Middle East Special Envoy, Russian Special Envoy)
(Emoconti applause) (Applause) (Emoconti Popeye arm muscle show) USUS
5:47 PM
<Administrator
Great work and effect!
6:35 PM>
The Atlantic released a chat screen shot on the 26th, showing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent a text message about a plan to kill a Houthi rebel leader in Yemen two hours before the start of a secret military operation.
The screen shot started with "TIME NOW (1144et): Good weather. Just confirmed with CENTCOM and we are GO for the mission launch." "1215et: F-18s launch (first strike package)".
The New York Times published an explanatory board on the contents of each text in the released chat room on the 26th. The New York Times reported that <In the message, Hegses described the strikes as a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet launched from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea and an MQ-9 Reaper drone flying from a ground base in the Middle East. The “targeted terrorist” described by Hegses in the chats was an unidentified Houthi commander in an area of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed militias. Trump aides said one major difference between the strikes ordered by the U.S. since March 15 and those authorized by former President Joseph R. Biden was that Trump had given U.S. commanders in the region more authority to attack Houthi commanders and leaders, as well as radar sites, weapons depots and other sites.> “If this information had been leaked, those targeted by the U.S. in Yemen would have had time to escape,” the New York Times security reporter said. “Hegseth’s reference to OPSEC (operational security) suggested he recognized the need for secrecy.”
After the initial airstrike, Hegseth wrote in a chatroom that “CENTCOM is in place,” referring to the U.S. military’s Central Command, which was in charge of the operation.
“Outrage erupted in Washington after it was revealed that highly sensitive attack plans had been shared via a commercial messaging app, presumably on a personal cell phone,” Reuters reported on the 27th, and Democratic lawmakers called for members of Trump’s national security team to be fired. Reuters reported that “the chat did not appear to contain the names or precise locations of the targeted Houthis or any information that could be used to target U.S. forces conducting the operation,” and that “U.S. Defense Department officials with knowledge of the plan believed the information Hegseth sent was classified at the time,” a U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, raising questions about whether, when and how Hegseth’s texts were declassified.
President Trump called the leak of the Yemeni airstrike information a “witch hunt” and defended Hegseth, saying, “He’s doing a great job.”
The New York Times defense reporter reported that “along with the transcript, The Atlantic has released screen captures of the chat participants, including White House Chief of Staff Suzy Wiles and Treasury Department Chief of Staff Dan Katz.” “But what’s really notable is who’s not on it: Admiral Christopher Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a senior military adviser to the president and secretary of defense.” It is unprecedented for the highest-ranking officer in the Pentagon not to be included in high-level meetings on military operations,” he said, pointing out the “complete exclusion of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from military operations.”
The New York Times Middle East correspondent reported that “Witkoff, who is the special envoy for the Middle East and Russia, is known to use text messaging apps relatively sparingly,” and “He was in Russia when he was added to the group, and when he responded, he appeared to have returned to the United States, according to a person briefed on his whereabouts. In a post on X on Wednesday, Witkoff said he only had a phone from a security government in Moscow and did not have access to his personal devices until he returned.”
The Trump administration’s attack on the Houthis appears to be a strategy to secure the target area for the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza by threatening their home base, Sudan.
See “Trump Attacks Houthi Rebels in Gaza, 2 Million in Sudan, Somalia, and 3 Countries ‘Mass Displacement’, March 17, 2025”