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Signalgate tests Republican unity
26 March 2025
This week, Editor in Chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he had been accidentally added to a Signal private messaging thread with US national security officials discussing the 15 March attack on Houthi targets before it happened. Identities of all participants of the chat are not confirmed, but names on the thread included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz (the account that invited Goldberg to the chat). A spokesperson for the National Security Council said the thread, “appears to be authentic.”
Republicans quickly moved to respond to the story with mixed messages, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denying accusations and calling Goldberg “deceitful and highly discredited” to Rep. Mike Lawler from New York saying, “Classified information should not be transmitted on unsecured channels…Period.”
Two members of the thread, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe both appeared on the Hill for a pre-scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing where they said the chat did not contain classified information, but Goldberg reported that it did, but he did not want to share sensitive information.
From Hilary Clinton’s secretary of state emails on Gmail to classified documents in both Mar-a-Lago and former president Biden’s Delaware home, government officials have often not followed the correct protocol for handling sensitive government information. However, this breach differs from prior examples in a couple of significant ways: it was regarding an imminent attack on a US adversary, and it was shared directly with a journalist.
As USSC Director of Research Jared Mondschein told ABC News, the incident is indicative of the wider trend in the second Trump administration to favour speed, even if it means taking risks.
Mari Koeck
Director, Engagement and Impact
"Let's just make sure our messaging is tight here."
Vice President JD Vance in national security thread on Signal | 14 March 2025
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By the numbers
World happiness scores from 2015-2024
Cantril ladder score
The World Happiness Scores for 2025 have just been released and both the United States and Australia have slipped in the rankings. The United States ranked 24th happiest in the world (down from 23rd in 2024) and Australia ranked 11th (down from 10th in 2024). The rankings are based on the Cantril Ladder scores from the annual Gallup World Poll. The Cantril Ladder asks respondents to imagine a ladder from zero to 10 which represents “the best possible life for you” and asks respondents which step of the ladder they currently stand on.
This year, the United States had its lowest ranking since the World Happiness Report was first published in 2012. However, the score for the 2025 report was based on polling averages from 2022 to 2024, so the lower score is more a reflection of life under the former Biden administration than the current Trump administration.
Australia has continued on a gradual decline in happiness scores, while Scandinavian countries again took the top spots on the list. Asian countries scored lower than most Western countries. Taiwan scored highest of any Asian respondents, coming in at 27th in the world, but many Asian countries have seen their happiness scores climb in the last few years while many others have fallen since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report is released each year on the International Day of Happiness, so we will need to wait until 20 March 2026 to see the first indication of how scores have changed with a change of presidency in the United States.
Featured video
Mia Love on Trump, race and the future of the Republican Party
In 2019, then-USSC Non-Resident Senior Fellow Mia Love joined ABC Planet America Co-Host John Barron and then-USSC CEO Simon Jackman to discuss race and the Republican Party in the era of Trump. Former Congresswoman Love was the first Black Republican woman to serve in Congress and passed away this week after a battle with cancer.
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United States Studies Centre
Institute Building (H03)
University of Sydney NSW 2006