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--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, March 25th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Here's what we're covering. A serious leak of secret U.S. war plans has rattled Washington.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: A serious leak of secret U.S. war plans has rattled Washington. On Monday, the White House confirmed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared sensitive military information in a group chat that mistakenly included a journalist.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal contained operational details on military strikes the U.S. was planning against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other high-level officials were all in the chat. But so was Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Yesterday, Goldberg published an article describing how he'd been added to the chat, apparently by accident, by National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: He said at first he thought it was a fake thread or someone trying to trick him. But as he watched the messages roll in over the course of a few days, he realized he was watching the Trump administration debate in real time whether they should strike the Houthis.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Once they decided to move forward, Hegseth shared highly sensitive information in the chat about how the mission would be carried out, hours before the U.S. struck multiple targets in Yemen.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: After Goldberg laid out the timeline in his story yesterday, including portions of the texts, national security officials were floored.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I was over at the Pentagon and people's heads were just exploding. They just couldn't believe that Mr. Hegseth, the defense secretary, had put such descriptions of upcoming strikes, the kinds of weapons that would be used, the timing for this, where the strikes would take place, all in some chat group.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: Revealing operational war plans before they actually happen could have also put American troops directly into harm's way.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Eric Schmidt covers national security for the Times. The big thing to know here is not only was a journalist, Mr. Goldberg, inadvertently included in the group chat, but the conversation also took place outside of the secure government channels that would normally be used for classified and highly sensitive war planning.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: We don't know exactly the consequences of this yet. We don't know if there perhaps were other conversations that were also carried out on Signal which could be exposed to hacking by American adversaries.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This breach may reflect the inexperience of this national security team in coordinating and speaking about very serious military operations.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: When asked about the group chat by reporters, Hegseth said, quote, nobody was texting war plans.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The White House, meanwhile, acknowledged that the chat existed and defended it, calling it a, quote, demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: The incident could trigger a congressional investigation. And several Defense Department officials told The Times that having this type of classified conversation in a non-official channel could be a violation of the Espionage Act, a law covering the handling of sensitive information.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In New York, immigration officials are trying to find, arrest, and potentially deport another Columbia student over her participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Yoon Sa-chung is a junior at the school. She moved to the U.S. from South Korea when she was and is a legal permanent resident.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: But the Trump administration is arguing that her presence in the U.S. hinders its foreign policy goal of halting the spread of anti-Semitism.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's the same rationale that was cited in the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia grad and permanent U.S. resident who's currently being held at a detention center in Louisiana.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: ICE officials have visited several locations looking for Chung, including her parents' house, and they searched her housing on campus earlier this month.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Her lawyers say she's still in the country but wouldn't say where. And yesterday, her legal team sued President Trump and other high-ranking administration officials, asking a judge to bar the government from detaining or deporting her.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: Her suit also asked the judge to bar the government from trying to deport any other non-citizens over speaking out at protests.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The government's pursuit of Chung underscores how the Trump administration is prioritizing the detention of pro-Palestinian demonstrators. And how it's opened a new front in its targeting of immigrants by going after people who are in the country legally.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Two months since Donald Trump took office the impacts of many of his administration's drastic firings and budget cuts are reverberating across the country.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: Here are two updates on how the cuts are affecting some of the most vulnerable Americans.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The Times has learned that food banks have been scrambling after multiple programs that help keep them running have been abruptly paused or eliminated.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: Food bank officials say they were counting on hundreds of truckloads of food that have now been suspended. Everything from milk and cheese deliveries in New Mexico to chicken and vegetables that were slated for Maryland.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The officials say rural areas where food insecurity is particularly high will be the hardest hit.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: And the federal agency that has largely spearheaded the government's interventions for drug addiction and mental illness is now facing drastic cuts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: My colleague Jan Hoffman has been covering the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the agency that runs the national crisis hotline and supports clinics that offer opioid treatment programs.
--:-- Jan Hoffman: SAMHSA has gone from having 10 national offices to just four, and it's abruptly stopped coordinating with local nonprofits who do things like distribute Narcan.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: And she says broader reductions to its staff and operations could be coming. Cutting that staff and potentially the billions of dollars the staff administers throughout the country could lead to a surge in relapse rates, a strain on the health care system, and poor health outcomes overall.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In the West Bank, the Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land was beaten near his home by Israeli settlers and then detained, according to witnesses.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: One witness told the Times that at least 20 masked people descended on a village in the West Bank last night and assaulted the residents there as they were breaking their fast for Ramadan.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: The director, Hamdan Bilal, was attacked with rocks, sticks, and knives. Israeli forces then responded and detained Bilal.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A statement from the Israeli military said it was holding several Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks. Bilal's film, which he co-directed with three others, documents the demolition of homes in the West Bank by Israeli forces.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: No other land took the top documentary prize at this year's Oscars. But despite that and a string of good reviews, no U.S. distributor picked it up, potentially because of how politically charged the topic is, making it nearly impossible for Americans to see the film.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally, it's the first full week of spring. Cue the green leaves and the flowers and the pollen.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: People who suffer from seasonal allergies know this time of year as the beginning of Kleenex season.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But some adults who've never had a problem before may find that they're sneezing and sniffling too.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: That's because you can develop allergies as an adult.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: One allergy researcher told The Times that while people tend to think of allergies as something you have from the time you're a kid, it's actually very common to develop them in your 20s, 30s, and 40s.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: Scientists aren't sure exactly why that happens, but there are a couple potential causes.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: For one, climate change is causing allergy season to start earlier and last longer, which could make people more prone to developing symptoms.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: Another reason? Some infections, like colds, can compromise and change your body's response to allergens.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Also, living in the same place for a long time can factor in. Prolonged exposure to the same irritants like pollen can increase the risk of allergies.
--:-- Eric Schmidt: To be clear, not every runny nose means you have allergies. You'll need more than a few sneezes to know for sure.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But if you are just entering the allergy club, you are not alone. An estimated one in four adults in the U.S. suffers from seasonal allergies.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, Times reporter Jim Rutenberg explains how President Trump is taking on the media in a way no American president ever has before.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He's been making it increasingly clear he wants it entirely either out of his way or solely serving his interests.
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--:-- Tracy Mumford: That's next in the New York Times audio app where you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
