The Atlantic’s release of the complete Signal thread confirms that the secretary of defense shared information on forthcoming U.S. military action over an unauthorized system.

On Monday, I wrote that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should be fired for his egregious behavior in the now-infamous Signal group chat’s disclosure to a journalist of military operational planning in advance of the strikes on the Houthis:

Pete Hegseth — the top civilian in the Department of the Defense and a man who has command authority over U.S. military operations worldwide — texted information, over an unsecured channel, that “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.” That’s shocking, egregious, and totally outrageous.

Over the subsequent 36 hours, Hegseth and the White House repeatedly denied that any war plans or classified information were shared over the chat.

“Nobody texted war plans,” Hegseth said on a trip to the Asia-Pacific. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, insisted that “no classified material was sent to the thread” and “no ‘war plans’ were discussed.”

With The Atlantic’s release of screen shots of the complete Signal chat this morning, that has all now been shown to be a lie.

As Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris report this morning:

At 11:44 a.m. eastern time, Hegseth posted in the chat, in all caps, “TEAM UPDATE:”

The text beneath this began, “TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.” Centcom, or Central Command, is the military’s combatant command for the Middle East. The Hegseth text continues:

Let us pause here for a moment to underscore a point. This Signal message shows that the U.S. secretary of defense texted a group that included a phone number unknown to him—Goldberg’s cellphone—at 11:44 a.m. This was 31 minutes before the first U.S. warplanes launched, and two hours and one minute before the beginning of a period in which a primary target, the Houthi “Target Terrorist,” was expected to be killed by these American aircraft. If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests—or someone merely indiscreet, and with access to social media—the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on their strongholds. The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic.

As Goldberg and Harris report, however, Hegseth wasn’t finished. He continued texting information about the timing and sequencing of the strikes:

I admit that I had held out some hope over the last few days that I would learn that Goldberg’s initial reporting that the secretary of defense texted information that “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing” over an insecure, unauthorized network was incorrect. The defense secretary and the White House certainly pushed back on Goldberg’s claim.

But don’t let anyone lie to you: Information about the timing of forthcoming U.S. military operations is prima facie classified Top Secret. Information regarding high-value targets, weapons systems, military unit movements, even whether we think that we have Operational Security — OPSEC — in advance of a military operation is prima facie classified.

Our secretary of defense texted out the no-kidding Time on Target! That would, to say the least, be useful information for anyone manning enemy air defense batteries.

These are extremely sensitive topics that should never be discussed outside of the appropriate venue and only with those with need-to-know.

Do not get misled by the idea that by somehow not attaching a PDF stamped “Classified Top Secret,” Hegseth didn’t do anything wrong here. Hegseth’s texts per born classified the moment he wrote them. This information by its very existence and by its definition was classified the moment Hegseth started tapping on his iPhone.

As Andy McCarthy wrote yesterday:

As we observed many times during Secretary Clinton’s emails scandal (including when President Obama gave voice to this rationalization), lack of intent to do harm is not a defense to the Espionage Act prong that criminalizes gross negligence on the part of officials trusted with access to national defense intelligence. (See Section 793(f), Title 18, U.S. Code.) Lack of intent to cause harm is only a defense if traditional criminal intent is an element of the offense at issue (compare, e.g., Section 798, which criminalizes unauthorized disclosure of classified information if done “knowingly and willfully”).

It is inconceivable to me that any other defense secretary would survive such an incredible lack of judgment. Whatever his other qualities, this one shouldn’t either.

Pete Hegseth foolishly placed highly sensitive national defense information about an impending U.S. military action on a non-secure system that was already compromised. Then he spent several days obfuscating and lying about it.

Again: The question now hangs over this administration: Will there be accountability under Trump — or does the buck stop nowhere?