Fox's newest defense of the Signal mess: Detailed information about imminent military strikes is no big deal
Hours after The Atlantic published the text chain in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided precise details about an imminent U.S. military attack on Houthi targets in Yemen over the messaging app Signal, Fox News’ most prominent propagandists settled on a message: National security was not put at risk, there’s nothing to see here, and it’s time to move on.
But in a tell that the hosts may not really believe what they’re telling viewers, they’re not actually reading or showing the messages.
Those messages include a comment from Hegseth, a former Fox weekend host, disclosing the exact strike times and the weapons packages to be used hours before their deployment. Experts — including those consulted by Fox defense reporter Jennifer Griffin — say those operational plans “should not be shared through insecure channels” like Signal because their disclosure would put the U.S. forces at risk.
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The inadvertent inclusion of the Atlantic editor on a Signal group chat sharing information about a pending U.S. military strike has created an uproar of accusations and denials. It’s also exposed a Pandora’s box of shoddy digital security practices within the Trump administration
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