One month after the White House bragged that the Trump administration is the “most transparent administration in history” they’re facing a very real test of their commitment to that claim. The inclusion of The Atlantic’s Jeffery Goldberg to a group chat of senior officials discussing highly secretive plans for American attacks on Yemen is a severe national security breach that must be investigated. Indeed, given the danger this leak could have caused – including endangering American soldiers – there is no excuse to avoid a full, impartial, and transparent investigation. Plainly, the investigation must look into both why Mr. Goldberg was invited into the chat, as well as why an extremely sensitive discussion took place on the Signal app rather than on a secure channel. To be clear, this is more than a simple lapse in judgement, nor is it the “witch hunt” President Trump described it as on Wednesday.  It was a profound breakdown of fundamental national security and legal protocols that occurred due to extreme negligence.  Unfortunately, particularly for National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, negligence is seemingly a pattern.  As CBS News has reported, Waltz’s Venmo history was set to “public,” showing years of payments to and from “journalists, government officials, and members of Congress.” As the report states, this information in no way should be public, as it could be exploited by foreign intelligence services. This carelessness must not be repeated, and necessitates consequences for those involved. Similarly, there are legitimate questions as to why Goldberg didn’t alert officials early on. That should also be looked into, but Goldberg is not a government official tasked with protecting national security. It should be noted that the administration has repeatedly said that the group chat – which included VP J.D. Vance, Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and others – did not discuss anything technically “classified.” However, the degree of classification is less important than what this says about these officials’ reckless approach to national security, particularly as we now know that our ally Israel supplied the targeting information. Had someone other than Mr. Goldberg been invited to the chat, who knows where this information would have ended up, or what the consequences would have been. Moreover, given that this group chat took place on Signal instead of official, secure channels, there was a very real risk that China, Russia, or Iran – the Houthi’s main backers – could have been made aware of American military plans ahead of time. To that end, while every member of the group chat should be investigated, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s words deserve special attention. It now appears that the Senate Armed Services Committee is seeking just that, per the Wall Street Journal. According to the full transcript released Wednesday, Hegseth personally – and cavalierly – sent specific details regarding the exact time U.S. war planes were taking off, when the attacks would begin, the weapons used, as well as information on the targets. Typically, the military closely guards the sort of pre-attack information Hegseth was openly discussing. This prevents leaks that could endanger American troops or compromise intelligence-gathering methods and ultimately ensures the mission’s success.  Mick Mulroy, deputy assistant secretary of defense during Trump’s first term, told the Wall Street Journal that the intel Hegseth sent – over a non-secure app – is “highly classified and protected.”  He continued, “next to nuclear and covert operations, this information is the most protected.” Worse still is that one member of the chat, Steve Witkoff, was in Moscow while receiving these messages. There should be little doubt that the Kremlin’s intelligence services were monitoring his devices.  In that same vein, that the most senior defense and intelligence officials in our country were having this conversation on Signal – an encrypted messaging app – rather than a secure government channel is simply inexcusable.  As Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency hacker, told CNBC, those individuals’ personal devices are constantly in the crosshairs of our adversaries’ hackers. While the need for an investigation was evident when Goldberg first reported what occurred, the administration’s response – and particularly Hegseth’s – has only underscored its necessity.  Since the news broke, Hegseth has refused to accept or acknowledge that he made a mistake, preferring to either deflect or to attack Mr. Goldberg.  On Monday, Hegseth criticized Goldberg, saying he is “a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.” Bizarrely, Hegseth’s criticism of Goldberg came after the White House and those involved had already confirmed Goldberg’s story to be accurate. To be sure, even before his confirmation, there were serious questions over Mr. Hegseth’s fitness for the Secretary of Defense, but his recent behavior has only reignited those concerns. On Tuesday, when asked about the group chat, Hegseth replied, “I know exactly what I’m doing” but it would be entirely understandable if the American people feel less confident in our Defense Department’s abilities after this. What makes an investigation even more important is how Republicans generally, and Trump – as well as many of the individuals in the group chat – specifically, have reacted when Democrats have been accused of being nonchalant with classified intelligence.  During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump led Republicans’ charge against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she was accused of using a private server to store official emails.  When former President Joe Biden was accused of mishandling classified documents by storing them in his garage, Hegseth – then of Fox News – called for the prosecution of those involved, saying that without accountability then the U.S. clearly “has two tiers of justice.” Related Articles The hateful rhetoric against immigrants is nothing new President Donald Trump’s national security team has looked like a pack of amateurs Protectionism won’t bring back the past or revive old manufacturing jobs Constitution’s enemies misuse 1798 law to gut due process Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez case spotlights wrong federal priorities in deportation cases And just two weeks before she openly discussed secret intelligence and military plans on a non-secure channel, Gabbard committed to “aggressively pursuing” those who leak intelligence. Even Trump allies on the Hill, such as Rep. Don Bacon, are criticizing the administration’s refusal to acknowledge that mistakes were made, suggesting that it undermines public trust and that Trump needs to “own up to it and preserve credibility.” If the Trump administration wants to prove to the American people that it can be trusted and can keep Americans safe, there is no alternative to a full investigation into how this occurred.  Finally, as part of such an investigation, serious consideration should be given as to whether Hegseth, Waltz, Gabbard, and others are fit for the roles they have been given.  Douglas Schoen is a longtime Democratic political consultant. ...read more read less