War chat leak: Rubio admits ‘big mistake’, says not going to happen again

KINGSTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has admitted that adding a journalist to a group military chat was a "big mistake" and has vowed to introduce reforms to ensure it does not happen again.

"Obviously, someone made a mistake – someone made a big mistake – and added a journalist. Nothing against journalists, but you ain’t supposed to be on that thing," Rubio told a news conference in Jamaica, as the row dominated headlines for a third day.

"I think there will be reforms and changes made so this never – so this is not going to happen again," he said.

Rubio did not assign blame but quickly noted that he only participated twice in the chat – once to assign a representative and later to congratulate US troops after a public announcement of the strikes on Yemen.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said he was inadvertently added into the chat on commercial app Signal by Mike Waltz, the national security advisor, and that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed strike plans through it.

Rubio repeated the Trump administration’s assertion that "none of the information on there at any point threatened the operation or the lives of our servicemen."

The messages, as released by The Atlantic, showed a divide in the decision to strike the Houthi rebels, with Vice President JD Vance saying that the United States was once again "bailing out" Europe, which is more affected by the insurgents’ disruptions to Red Sea shipping.

Hegseth, in the exchange, agreed that the "European freeloading" was "PATHETIC."

Asked for his reaction as America’s top diplomat, Rubio appeared to support the strikes.

"I think the point I would make is not, we’re going to make somebody pay or not. It’s (that) everybody should recognise we are doing the world a great favour going after these guys, because this can’t continue," he said.