A growing scandal has erupted around sensitive military information being released over unprotected communication lines. With these circumstances, LiveMike Waltz and Pete Hegseth have just been thrown into an environment to shine. Things turned nasty in a hurry. Hegseth reportedly posted sensitive “attack orders” including F18s, MQ9 Reapers and Tomahawks into a Signal group chat. This embarrassing disclosure was revealed after a Washington Post reporter was accidentally dropped into the communications thread, raising alarms about compromising our national security.
The revelations have unveiled an elite network similar to the one found on Waltz’s public Venmo account, which until recently, included 328 contacts, among them prominent White House officials such as Susie Wiles, Donald Trump’s chief of staff. Waltz’s connections, while they were publicly accessible until Wednesday, do raise bigger questions about privacy and security, even the notion of accountability.
Hegseth claims this was an improper characterization by the Atlantic of the details as “attack plans.” He insists this was a purely semantic issue, suggesting that the documents were far less sensitive than true “war plans.” That assertion has been thoroughly debunked by two former senior US defense officials.
“If you are revealing who is going to be attacked (Houthis – the name of the text chain), it still gives the enemy warning. When you release the time of the attack – all of that is always ‘classified’.” – A second former senior US defense official
Even before the pair of incidents above, Waltz’s relationship with White House staff had deepened and reportedly frayed, sources say. The White House has so far refused to comment on the issue at all. Waltz was under increasing fire for his role in the “Signalgate” scandal. Sensitive national security information was discussed on a forum that had non-secure participants, making the whole situation even more damning.
Waltz later accepted responsibility for setting up the group chat and accidentally adding North’s boss, the Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. The Secretary of Defense has the ability to retroactively declassify information as well. Because sensitive, operationally significant information is transmitted in near real-time, this most likely wasn’t new information declassified at the time.
Dasha Burns, White House bureau chief for Politico, described the precarious position that Waltz finds himself in and reported a possible reprieve.
“Burns, however, also reports that ‘although Waltz has been on thin ice for a while, Signalgate may actually save him – for now – because ‘they don’t want to give Goldberg a scalp.’” – Dasha Burns, White House bureau chief for Politico
Unfortunately, Hegseth’s tweets have been the tip of the spear in these concerns over classification. Although he’s trying to claim that such “war plans” were never published, that argument is seen as semantic by former defense officials.
“It kind of boggles the mind, in a way,” – Michael Ard, a former intelligence analyst
The attack is a symptom of more deeply rooted problems with information security in government business processes. Even more concerning than the sensitive information itself is the fact that it could be shared publicly at all, a clear breach of security standards. Michael Ard, a former intelligence analyst, warned about the dangers that come with unsecured communications.
“It would be really easy for somebody to spoof a contact, and that is something the security industry has already been issuing notices on.” – Michael Ard, a former intelligence analyst
Venmo, responding to the outcry about Waltz’s public contacts, defended their commitment to user privacy.
“We take our customers’ privacy seriously, which is why we … make it incredibly simple for customers to make these private if they choose to do so.” – A Venmo spokesperson