Is Jeffrey Goldberg legally allowed to release the Signal messages he received?

Independent

25-03-2025

Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, released excerpts of the conversation among national security officials on the messaging app Signal after he was accidentally added to the group chat — exercising a right to publish that has sparked controversy among Trump administration officials.
In a shocking article published Monday, Goldberg revealed that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has inadvertently added him to the group chat on Signal, an encrypted but commercially available app, along with top national security officials, to discuss a U.S. military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.
While Goldberg withheld some details, including the name of a current CIA operative and the names of the U.S. military's targets, he did include the names of those involved in the group chat and their process to prepare for the attack. His piece also included screenshots of specific exchanges. He did not release the information until after the attack on the Houthis earlier this month.
While many blame the Trump administration officials for accidentally including a journalist in the group chat, some have pointed fingers at Goldberg for publishing information, believing it violates national security protocol. The issue is murky because Donald Trump himself and other officials have insisted that no classified information was discussed in the group chat.
Nevertheless, Mercedes Schlapp, a conservative communication specialist who worked in the first Trump administration, called Goldberg 'incredibly irresponsible and anti-American' for publishing 'the texts of the national security team.'
The 'right thing to do would have been to notify the NSA adviser that a text was sent in error. The reporter put our national security at risk,' she wrote.
Republican Representative Darrell Issa told Fox News correspondent Chad Pergram: 'What The Atlantic did by making public something that they believed could have been national security sensitive is the kind of irresponsible activity of the press.'
While there is no hard-and-fast rule for newsrooms when handling classified information, they are awarded some legal protections when choosing to do so.
Journalists are generally protected if they legally obtain documents that contain accurate information and are considered newsworthy. They are also protected from civil lawsuits if they are given documents that were illegally obtained by a third party.
Additionally, under the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in New York Times v. United States (1971), known as the 'Pentagon Papers' case, the government cannot censor a newspaper unless it proves the publication would cause 'grave and irreparable' danger.
The details about the U.S. military operation in The Atlantic article are vague, and were published more than a week after the attacks occurred.