Even if Signal had perfect, uncrackable security, high-level White House staff using it to discuss classified information would still be a problem.
„So this was not classified“, President Donald Trump said at the White House this week. He was talking about an incident where a journalist was accidentally added to a group chat discussing military operations plans. Across two lengthy articles from The Atlantic, said journalist has detailed the entire conversation chain, which includes highly sensitive information about mission targets, offense timing, and the weapons systems involved.
Experts across the political spectrum are now engaged in a hot debate over the „classified“ status of the military discussions. The most sensitive details of the operation were shared by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who accused the journalist of „peddling hoaxes time and time again.“ Yet, a couple of top intelligence officials have confirmed that the leaked material was legitimate. The mistake came courtesy of national security advisor Michael Waltz, who later took full responsibility for his error.
So far, the debate is focused more on the sensitivity of the information, bad-mouthing about a journalist, and deriding concerns about the whole fiasco. The bigger question, however, is why such a sensitive discussion was carried out on a commercial messaging app in the first place. The turn of events is rather interesting because back in 2023, the Defense Department published a memo that warned government officials from discussing sensitive topics on Signal, the chat platform on which this week’s security scandal unfolded. As it happens, earlier in March, yet another Pentagon memo asked staffers to stay away from Signal, citing security risks.
