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The Atlantic: Please remove us from this distro

The publication's editor was added to another Signal chat called "Joint Ops Bantz ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿš€ (NO FOREIGN)"

| 3 min read
The Atlantic: Please remove us from this distro

WASHINGTON โ€” The Atlantic editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, has replied-all after he was mistakenly added to another Department of Defense Signal chat group that routinely leaks classified information, obscure memes, and, apparently, Russian intelligence collection opportunities.

Sources confirmed that the chat, named โ€œJoint Ops Bantz ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿš€ (NO FOREIGN),โ€ was intended for a small group of senior DoD officials, the country's transportation office, and Secretary of Defense Hegsethโ€™s mother.

Instead, it included a curious mix of field grades, unpaid DOGE interns, a public affairs officerโ€™s burner phone, Pete Hegsethโ€™s mother (yeah, again), and, for reasons no one can explain, Goldberg himself (also, again).

Initially believing the chat to be a press pool group, Goldberg reportedly tried to keep up, only to be greeted with a barrage of eye-watering content ranging from โ€œJRTC Thunderdome fight club rulesโ€ to a live play-by-play of a general officer trying to bypass CAC login for the 37th time.

โ€œI just wanted to cover a story about military families overcoming adversity,โ€ Goldberg explained. โ€œInstead, I got 200 messages debating if we could weaponize a horse, and whether we can force women in this country to have more babies like in The Handmaidโ€™s Tale. I wish I could make this stuff up.โ€

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