Top national security officials for US President Donald Trump, including his defence secretary, texted war plans for coming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online on Monday.

The National Security Council said the text chain “appears to be authentic”.

It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the very least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security.

The National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain in the Signal chain, which included Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, who was also in the group chat.

The US has conducted air strikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.