World Briefing: March 25, 2025

President Trump's national security adviser accidentally added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic to a group text in which top officials debated highly sensitive plans for bombing Yemen, the magazine reported today. The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg said he was added to a Signal thread earlier this month that included Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, along with other officials.The breach exposed classified information and private deliberations among some of the nation's highest-ranking officials. The U.S. government doesn't permit the use of Signal to transmit classified information. NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement: "At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain." He added: "The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials," Hughes added. "The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our service members or our national security.” The Atlantic article is headlined, "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans." It reports Vance told the group as momentum built for a strike in Yemen: "I think we are making a mistake. ... There is a real risk that the public doesn't understand this or why it's necessary. ... I just hate bailing Europe out again." The Atlantic notes that the administration contends America's European allies benefit from U.S. Navy protection of international shipping lanes. Hegseth wrote back: "I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC." Trump told reporters when asked about the story: "I know nothing about it." Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said: "This is an outrageous national security breach and heads should roll." - Axios

President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of tens of billions of dollars in U.S. global aid spending has rapidly diminished key elements of America’s presence in Africa — upending long-standing programs, severing sensitive relationships and leaving a void that rival powers are keen to exploit. Washington’s vanishing largesse and declining influence could further imperil stability in the region as governments turn increasingly to China and Russia, according to some analysts and former U.S. officials. America’s two most powerful adversaries have been strengthening military and economic ties across Africa in recent years and investing heavily in media initiatives to counter Western narratives. “You’ve heard over and over again that nature abhors a vacuum; if we are not engaged, someone else will be,” Gen. Philip Breedlove, a former supreme allied commander of NATO, told The Washington Post. “There are lots of countries that have lots more nefarious goals when they go out and engage.” Envoys from Russia and China have already sought to capitalize on the U.S. funding cuts. In the Central African Republic, Russia House, a Kremlin-backed cultural institution, posted pictures last month of its director handing over boxes of drugs for tuberculosis and HIV to top officials - Washington Post