By now, most newspaper readers know the basics: Somehow, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and a dozen other high-ranking officials were chatting on a commercial texting app about (among other things) the specifics of a planned strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen. The 20th seat at the virtual table was occupied by a surprise (and surprised) guest: Jeffrey Goldberg, the veteran journalist and editor in chief of the Atlantic.

They also know the specifics of how Goldberg ended up in this most elite of groups.

Waltz invited him.

The “huh?!” factor here is so strong it’s almost like a slap in the face with a dead fish. Col. Mike Waltz, who built a truly illustrious military career that included combat duty, earning four Bronze Stars before becoming a security advisor to two secretaries of defense along with former Vice President Dick Cheney. U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, the first Green Beret to serve in Congress, where he represented a district that covers a big chunk of east Central Florida. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who has been, until recently, almost universally regarded as one of Trump’s smartest nominations, and who almost certainly knows the layers of safeguards meant to keep high-level communications secure and preserved in official government circles.

That Mike Waltz. Our Mike Waltz. Invited the editor of a magazine that has been one of Trump’s sharpest critics to a group chat where he had no business being, on a platform that was in no way suitable for discussions at this level.

And nobody in that group of 19 people, most of whom knew each other by name if not through personal connections, said “Um, who’s that Jeffrey guy?” This is a group that, collectively, controls thousands of fighter jets and battleships; one of the world’s feared and effective spy organizations; the most intimate, daily operations of the executive-branch nerve center and all the nation’s money, along with God knows how many atomic bombs.

So yes, the initial blame belongs on Waltz’s head, and we’re sorry to say that, because it’s something nobody who’s watched Waltz throughout his military, business and political career would have expected.

But the failure really exploded when not a single member in this group chat — hosted on an app known as Signal — challenged Goldberg’s participation. As they were planning and executing a military strike on foreign soil, with foreign agents quite possibly listening in and the lives of Americans soldiers and American allies on the line.

Right up until the point where Goldberg was sitting in his car, listening to a reporter describing a strike he’d heard discussed just a few hours earlier, he thought he might have been dropped into the midst of an elaborate practical joke or set-up attempt.

And as the final cherry on top of this incredible concoction, CBS News reported a memo in February saying that Russian hackers were using Signal as a spy tool.

In the immediate aftermath, a consensus is emerging that Waltz deserves to lose his job. If everything so far is accurate, that much seems clear. But not one person in this group met their duty to the nation they are supposed to serve.

Now, they owe the American people the truth. Even after what might be the worst week of his life, we look to Waltz to lead the way and level with the American people.

If he simply falls on his sword in hopes that it makes this scandal go away for Trump and others, he will betray the people he’s sworn so many times to serve, protect and honor. If the nation’s most elite leaders are so deeply rooted in incompetence and entitlement that he could not steer them clear, if over the course of three short months they were able to break him so thoroughly that he acquiesced to this kind of breach, the nation and the world need to know.

For its part, the members of Congress who know and respect Waltz insist, now, that he come before them and tell the truth. The whole truth, sparing nobody — the truth they have little chance of getting from the other high-ranking participants in this explosive breach, who are already lying and spinning their heads off so fast that the rapid-fire gush of press conferences, social media posts and official statements are already riddled with dozens of contradictions.

Certainly, those responsible and irresponsible should suffer for their lack of care. But even as that unfolds, Congress and the American people must demand that this dutiful soldier do his duty once more. Otherwise, this nation is in deeper peril than anyone can grasp right now.

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The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com

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