Explainer: Why were US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, deputy Alex Wong shown the door in White House shake-up?

White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, have been officially removed from the Trump administration on Thursday, in what is the first major reorganisation at Washington since the beginning of US President Donald Trump’s second term, according to an Associated Press report, citing two officials in the know.

Waltz faced intense legal backlash in March after he admitted to a major security mishap online. The former Republican congressman had accidentally added The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a private group on Signal—a messaging application with more encryption than traditional ones—which was used in the planning and execution of a highly-sensitive American military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen on March 15. 

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Goldberg published an account detailing how he had accepted Waltz’s invitation to join the 19-member Signal group titled the ‘Houthi PC Small Group', hoping that the requester was the actual national security advisor, and that he had something important to discuss. 

After explaining how he revealed the colossal mishap to Waltz and other important defence officials such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed the veracity of the group and Waltz’s error.

Goldberg went on to explain that Mike Waltz’s monumental error—later dubbed Signalgate—was in serious violation of the US Espionage Act, not only because of the leak itself, but also because he had communicated extremely-sensitive military-related details via a Signal group, rather than going by established government procedures.

Goldberg’s account had initially omitted operational details. However, with high-level defence officials categorically denying his account soon after it was published, he went on to publish a follow-up that undeniably revealed everything about the Houthi strike operation, such as the timing of the strikes and the weapons packages used, according to a CBS News report.

The CBS report added, citing an unnamed National Security Council source, that Trump had been hesitant at the time to oust Waltz, in the interest of not being seen bending to external pressure to do so. However, the source claimed that Trump later felt enough time had passed to pass off the exit of Waltz and Wong as a reorganisation move.

ALSO READ | Will Pete Hegseth be fired? US Defense Secretary shared Houthi attack plan on a second Signal group chat

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer welcomed Waltz’s exit but said that it was much more important that Pete Hegseth be fired.

“They fired the [national security council] guy, but there are going to be many more problems, just like Signalgate that come out of the defense department, as long as Hegseth is in charge. This is not a one-off. This is going to happen over and over and over again,” he told reporters at the Capitol.

Trump, however, so far continues to back Hegseth, despite pressure from Democrats—and even a few Republicans as well—who express concerns about the possibility of military secrets leaking through Signal (or other such applications) again.

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