Ah, ’tis a beautiful day here in America. The birds are chirping, the birds are singing and the birds are sitting in smoking jackets giggling to themselves. 

And somehow, that remains a less bizarre statement than what has recently occurred within the highest echelons of our military hierarchy. In the middle of an active military procedure, the editor-in-chief of “The Atlantic” was added to a military chat group between numerous high-ranking appointed government officials. This group chat was made for the dissemination of information regarding the US airstrikes on the Houthis, a Yemen-based terrorist organization. 

Ignoring the obvious humor that a journalist, who is often actively pushed as far as possible from government secrets, was added by pure accident to a group chat that involved military secrets (though, per our illustrious head of state and his team, they were not classified), it does bring up numerous concerns over the state of US operational security. Granted, this journalist was only added by virtue of having a similar name to other US officials and his number being in the phone of the current Secretary of Defense, but it still makes me feel… unsettled. What if it had been a family member instead of a journalist? What if it had been a journalist with less integrity than the one it was? Any one of these cases could have resulted in military plans being leaked to the recipients of said military action and put the lives of our soldiers at risk. While I am not a fan of the military-industrial complex as it stands, I have friends who are serving and who have served. I believe I can say with some certainty that nearly every single person reading these words can say something similar. 

So, I would just ask this little question… what if it was someone you know on a compromised mission? If this had never come to light and they had died in the pursuit of their duty to the nation, what then? People have been court-martialed for lesser offenses and with the antagonistic diplomatic stance that the US is taking to its former allies, who is to say that another such breach wouldn’t alter the future of the nation? As the country makes enemies of its allies and acquaintances of its enemies, can we as the people of it trust in a department of defense and administration that refuses to take responsibility for a failure that could have had drastic consequences? 

A part of the reason that this particular journalist didn’t say anything initially is that the very idea of a phone-number-based group chat being used to transmit military attack plans was too ludicrous to even consider. But now with such a thing actually having happened, perhaps a potential next recipient of such a leak would take it more seriously. Granted, this sort of thing would be perfect for feeding false intelligence— but still, if this is what has been made public, what other breaches may have occurred of which we are none the wiser? 

I fear for the future of this nation in more ways than one, but even a case of “butterfingers” by a competent individual should not pass scot-free. Even worse, the character of this administration is put on full display with the denial of wrongdoing. The best option would be to admit error and carry on, as any public body should when it makes any such mistake, but instead it opts to ignore reality in the pursuit of appearing strong. To the current administration, true strength is in having the courage to admit when you’re wrong and working to fix whatever caused your issue. The pursuit of betterment is the core of the American ideal—we the people, in order to form a more perfect union—and if our elected officials cannot seek to better themselves and the nation, but rather deny that there is anything wrong, then they do not have vision. They have a blindfold.