Up First from NPR - War Plans Group Chat, Alien Enemies Act, U.S. Greenland Visit

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

A national security breach reveals that U.S. military plans were accidentally shared in a group chat on a commercial app, including a journalist. The Trump Administration faces legal challenges over deporting Venezuelan migrants under a centuries-old law, while the White House invokes state secrets privilege to block a court inquiry. And, Second Lady Usha Vance's controversial visit to Greenland raises questions about the U.S. government's intentions amid ongoing diplomatic tensions. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Eric Westervelt, Roberta Rampton, Janaya Williams and Mohamad ElBardicy.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carleigh StrangeLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

U.S. military plans were discussed on a group chat that included, apparently by accident, a journalist. I'm sitting in my car and I get this war plan from Pete Hegseth. Why were sensitive plans to strike Yemen shared on an unsecured commercial messaging app? I'm Michelle Martin, that's Leila Fadl, and this is Up First from NPR News. A federal judge says the Trump administration did not give appropriate due process to hundreds of Venezuelan migrants when it deported them under a wartime law. Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemy Act and has

happened here. What is the administration's argument? And the Prime Minister of Greenland is not happy about an upcoming visit from second lady Usha Vance. International travel is often set up as a way to connect with the voting public. But Greenland sees it as aggressive. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. This message comes from 48 Hours. Want more 48 Hours. Want more 48 hours? Four days a week, the 48 Hours podcast is bringing one of TV's most popular true crime series straight to your ears. Listen

for original reporting and exclusive insights. Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Making time for the news is important, but when you need a break, we've got you covered on All Songs Considered, NPR's music podcast. Think of it like a music discovery show, a well-deserved escape with friends, and yeah, some serious music insight. I'm gonna keep it real. I have no idea what this story is about. Hear new episodes of All Songs Considered every Tuesday, wherever you get podcasts. In an extraordinary security breach, the country's most senior security officials created a group chat on a messaging app to discuss U.S. airstrikes on Yemen. Now, two important points about this. First, the group chat was on that commercial messaging app Signal, not a secure U.S. government

network. And second, the group included a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of the Atlantic magazine, apparently by accident. For more, we're joined by NPR National Security correspondent, Greg Myrie. Hey, Greg. Good morning, Laila. Okay. So, I mean, how did this happen? Well, the editor of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, said he got a notice on the messaging app Signal on March 11th, inviting him to join a group chat regarding the Houthis in Yemen. Now the invitation came from the National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, and included all the top

national security officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Now Goldberg initially thought this was some sort of hoax. Someone was trying to entrap him, but over the next few days the text increasingly looked to be genuine with details about U.S. plans to bomb the Houthis in Yemen. Goldberg spoke to All Things Considered yesterday about what then happened on March 15th. I'm sitting in my car in a parking lot in a supermarket at 1144 a.m. Eastern, and I get this war plan from Pete Hegseth. And so two hours later the U.S. bombing begins in Yemen and Goldberg realizes this is no

hoax. These U.S. airstrikes are real and they're still ongoing. And Hegseth yesterday questioned the credibility of Goldberg, but the National Security Council put out a statement saying the material appeared to be authentic. I mean it's pretty remarkable and Democrats have been highly critical of Trump's national security team saying it lacked experience. Is this an example of that supposed lack of experience? Well, Leila, certainly seems so and they certainly should have known better. Hegseth often talks about his military experience as does does Waltz, and rest assured they were never told as soldiers to share military operations in advance on their preferred messaging app and to include

emojis, as Waltz apparently did with a clenched fist, a flag, and a fire emoji. And this group also included the nation's top two intelligence officials, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Now those agencies are absolutely fanatical about secure communications, yet based on Goldberg's account, no senior national security official raised concerns about sharing war plans on signal. And how do national security officials normally communicate when discussing sensitive military operations?

Well, those officials are supposed to use a SCIF, which stands for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. These secure rooms are built to discuss classified information. You can't take a phone into these rooms. You can't take a phone into these rooms, you can't take documents out, and all of these top-ranking national security officials have skiffs at their offices and at their homes. I mean, it makes sense in principle, but how does it work in reality? Senior

national security officials are often traveling for work, their job doesn't end when the weekend comes. Is this practical? Well, it can be very impractical, but that's how it's supposed to be done. These airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen began on a Saturday afternoon, so officials may not have been near a skiff, but it doesn't mean they should be discussing the launch

of a major U.S. military operation in real time on their phones on a commercial messaging app. And PR's Greg Myhre. Thank you, Greg. Sure thing, Leila. A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. is weighing whether to allow the White House to quickly deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang under a rarely used wartime authority. It is the latest episode in a broader legal debate about the Alien Enemies Act. And last night, the Trump administration said it is invoking the state's secrets privilege in a standoff with another federal judge over deportation flights that may have defied his

orders. NPR's Joel Rose has been following that debate and he joins us now. Good morning, Joel. Hey, Laila. Okay, so this case has been moving pretty quickly. Remind us, what was the appeals court considering at the hearing Monday? This is a three-judge panel from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and it was hearing an appeal from the Trump administration of a lower court's ruling. The district court judge in that case has temporarily blocked the administration from deporting anyone under the Alien Enemies Act, which has

only been used three times in US history, all when the country was actively at war. The Trump administration argues it should apply here as well because of the threat posed by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. In an order yesterday, the judge reaffirmed his temporary restraining order on the grounds that these Venezuelan migrants have not gotten due process, had no meaningful chance to argue that they are not members of this notorious gang. And what happened in the appeals court hearing Monday?

One appeals court judge in particular seemed also very concerned about these due process questions. Judge Patricia Millett, who was appointed by Barack Obama. This law was used most recently during World War II. And even then, Millett said, detained Germans had a chance to fight their deportations unlike these Venezuelans today. There were plain loads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people. Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemy Act and has happened here. You know, the Justice Department's lawyer disputed the Nazi analogy and said that some

of these Venezuelan men have, in fact, been able to fight their removal. But Judge Millett questioned whether the other 200 migrants who were deported had any chance to do that. She said, we don't have any record of whether these people were gang members or victims of the gang. The White House says it is confident that all of those deported are violent gang members, but the administration has also conceded in legal filings that many do not have criminal records in the US. Immigrant advocates contend many are actually not gang members at all, but have been targeted because they have tattoos.

The administration has been firm in saying they have the authority to invoke this act. What was the case they made in court? The Justice Department's lawyer argued that the district court judge overstepped by inserting the court into foreign policy and never should have issued his order in the first place. Here's Drew Ensign from the Justice Department. The district court's order represents

an unprecedented and enormous intrusion upon the powers of the executive branch and in a manner that could intrude upon sensitive diplomatic negotiations. And then also spent a lot of time arguing that immigrant advocates brought basically the wrong kind of lawsuit and should have challenged this individual cases in Texas where these deportation flights originated. We don't know when this panel will rule, but it could be soon. And at the same time, the Trump administration is fighting to avoid releasing more details about

these deportation flights. Where does that stand? Yeah, on a separate legal track, the Trump administration has told US District Judge James Boesberg last night that it is invoking the state secret's privilege and will continue to not give him key information about those flights, including departure times and other operational details. Boesberg has been pushing the administration to explain whether it defied his orders when it allowed deportation flights to continue last weekend. He has said in court that he

will get to the bottom of whether his order was violated. And here's Joel Rose. Thank you, Joel. You're welcome. Since he took office, President Trump has repeatedly suggested that the U.S. should take over Greenland, a territory controlled by Denmark. It's in a strategic location and it is rich in critical minerals used in technology. Here's Trump speaking at a cabinet meeting yesterday. I think Greenland's going to be something that maybe is in our future.

I think it's important. It's important from the standpoint of international security. But leaders in Greenland and Denmark have repeatedly rejected these advances, saying Greenland is not for sale. So an announcement this week that's second to Usha Vance is traveling there raised some eyebrows. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram joins us now to talk it through. Hey, Deepa.

Hey, good morning. Okay, so why is Usha Vance going to Greenland? What is she doing? Right. So spouses of presidents and vice presidents have typically played a role in facilitating some kind of, you know, soft diplomacy. According to the White House, this is a cultural excursion. Vance will visit historical sites, learn about Greenland's heritage and attend Greenland's

national dogsled race, which involves more than 400 dogs, I learned. But given how fraught things are between the U.S. and Greenland, it's an unusual visit for Vance to make. This early in the administration, it's not clear what Vance's portfolio of issues is and what she'll focus on. But I did talk to a couple people who've studied first and second ladies, and they were surprised at the announcement of this trip because of how contentious the politics are. Here's Elizabeth Natali, she's a professor

at UNC Greensboro and helped found the First Ladies Association of Research and Education. International travel is often set up as a way for first and second ladies to connect with the voting public or the people of the ally, often involved in this travel. When you're promoting friendship, you're promoting equality and humanity and democracy. That is not the context at all as she embarks on this trip later this week.

Now, Natalia says it's possible that Vance can carve out a space on this trip to convey a positive image of herself and the U.S. She is bringing one of her young sons with her, but combined with the rhetoric from the White House, it might be a steeper climb for the second lady. Now, is she going on her own or is there more White House involvement here? So at this point, there's two parts of this. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is also making a trip to a U.S. military base in Greenland this week. That's separate. And so Vance is traveling with her son and a U.S. delegation, and they'll be there for about three days. And what's the reaction been in Greenland? It's been negative. In an interview with a Greenlandic newspaper over the weekend, the

prime minister of Greenland said that the visit from members of the Trump administration was very aggressive, Layla. He said that Greenland has to face the seriousness of the situation of the U.S. wanting to annex them. Now, Trump, for his part, says this isn't a provocation. He says it's a purely friendly visit and claimed that the U.S. was invited to visit Greenland, though NPR is not able to confirm if there was an invite. He also mentioned that countries like Russia and China are trying to assert more control in the Arctic region.

And he teased that Secretary of State Marco Rubio may also visit the territory. And I will just point out that in January before inauguration, Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., made a trip to Greenland as well. That's NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Thank you, Deepa. Thank you. And that's a first for Tuesday, March 25th. I'm Laila Fadid. And I'm Michelle Martin. Thanks for listening to Up First. You can find more in-depth coverage of

the stories we talked about today and lots more on NPR's morning edition, the radio show that Laila Fadil, Steve Vinsky, A. Martinez, and I host. Find morning edition on your local NPR station at stations.npr.org. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Eric Westervelt, Roberta Rampton, Janelle Williams and Mohammed El-Bardisi. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow.

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