And it turned out that the US has its own version of “Dworczyk's emails”. The editor-in-chief of the Atlantic was added on a free application to a “secret” group where the cream of the crop of the American administration discussed plans to attack the Houthi group in Yemen. Signal, the main character of the latest scandal across the Ocean.
This is one of the most stunning intelligence leaks in history, commented Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. Because of course in the Republican media the scandal is downplayed and at most called an “incident”.
National security adviser Mike Waltz in early March formed a group of top U.S. officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to discuss attacks on Houthi fighters in Yemen that were threatening international shipping in the Red Sea. Waltz, who must have slipped his thumb, added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the conversation.
The discussion began with the question of when the action should be carried out. Then came the details of how it should be carried out. Then it was carried out, and the participants in the conversation congratulated themselves on a job well done. At that point, the journalist decided to withdraw from the conversation himself. The emoticons of clenched fists or congratulations after successful attacks are more reminiscent of a school football team exchange than of national security agents.
“Oh my God,” one former senior official commented after hearing about the story on CNN News.
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Supposedly safer than others
Between 40 and 70 million users use Signal to send messages each other each month. That's a small number compared to the biggest services, such as Messenger or WhatsApp, which have over a billion users. As it turns out, however, it is more secure than its more popular counterparts (which does not mean it is safe), because it provides end-to-end encryption, meaning that messages are encrypted in transit and read by both the sender and the recipient. Even Signal itself does not have access to them, according to BBC News.
The conversation history is stored on the user's device, not on the platform's servers. The only exception is when the device is turned off or left out of reach. In that case, the messenger queues messages sent to it for later delivery. In practice, if investigators showed up at Signal with a warrant to share the conversation, they would get almost nothing.
In addition, the platform itself boasts that it does not collect too much information from its users, nor does it store, for example, photos, nicknames or groups to which they belong. What's more, Signal is owned by the Signal Foundation, a non-profit organization from the US that is supported by donations, not advertising.
– Signal is the highest standard in private communication – said the head of the platform, Meredith Whittaker, at X.
I wouldn't say that Will and I are battling but I do disagree. Because there are big differences between Signal and WhatsApp.
Signal is the gold standard in private comms. We're open source, nonprofit, and we develop and apply e2ee and privacy preserving tech across our system… https://t.co/ZU60z2vVHy
— Meredith Whittaker (@mer__edith) March 25, 2025
However, even the level of security they present is insufficient when it comes to secret attack plans and other issues related to national security. As Niebezpiecznik.pl pointed out, it would be enough if at least one phone of the person participating in the conversation was infected with malware. Then, without having to overcome Signal's complicated security, he could not only read, but also take screenshots of the entire conversation.
Signal also allows you to set “disappearing messages,” which can be set to last from 30 seconds to as long as four weeks. As Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic noted, some of the messages from the “secret group” disappeared after a week. This may violate data retention laws, CNN News notes.
Additionally, you can set a security feature called a “security number,” a code assigned to a given user. It helps verify that messages are reaching the person they are supposed to.
Apps revealed the location of secret bases
Social media is a powerful weapon in the hands of a soldier. In this case, a single Facebook or Instagram tag can be a clue to enemy units as to exactly where their opponents are, and from there, it's not far to the gunfire. That's why the US military has banned any “homemade technology” on missions.
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But still, Trump's team experienced remorse, but not contrition
– It is quite rare, even very rare, for high-ranking security officials to conduct such important consultations using a messaging platform like Signal – data expert Caro Robson, who has already cooperated with the American administration, diplomatically assesses the situation. Let us recall that Witkoff was in Moscow during the talks. After all, they have at their disposal a secure government system with a high level of encryption.
“They broke every procedure known to man for protecting operational materials from military attack,” the former senior intelligence official told CNN News. “There was a complete breakdown of military security,” he added. Especially since a Google report just last month indicated that Russian-linked spies had attempted to hack into the Signal accounts of Ukrainian military personnel by posing as trusted Signal contacts.
During the House Intelligence Committee hearing, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard repeatedly denied that top secret information was being exchanged in the chat. It was more of a play on words, since the discussion of the March attacks on the Houthis would have to be kept secret, i.e. information about targets, weapons, or the sequence of attacks, which could have endangered the lives and health of soldiers participating in the operation, although it probably did not contain “top secret” information.
– I think Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is to blame because he put some important information on the messenger, said Republican Don Bacon, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a former Air Force brigadier general, on CNN News.
Is Trump himself planning to fire anyone over this scandal? Probably not. He only commented that he was “not a big fan of The Atlantic.” “To me, it's a magazine that's going out of business […] You couldn't pick a worse person to add to the chat than Goldberg,” he told the media.
As it turns out, however, even encryption won't protect some people from stupidity.
Conclusion for Europe: The transatlantic alliance is over
The venomous criticism of the Old Continent as a parasite clearly showed that the friendship was over. Well, unless you want something from Avon [pfuu] i.e. the arms industry.
“I hate bailing out Europe again,” wrote JD Vance. This statement should come as no surprise after the revelations he made during his Munich speech. Hegseth echoes him, saying that “European parasitism is PATHETIC.” And SM [presumably Stephen Miller, Trump's top advisor] claims that the EU should be forced to pay for one on the Houthis, which is a reference to earlier – now official – White House announcements that reopening shipping lanes in the Red Sea is more financially beneficial for the EU than for the US. Is that true? No one has calculated it. However, sending an order to pay for attacks that were not consulted with anyone is like ordering things from Temu for your neighbor. And let us recall, the attack on the Houthis was not caused by the untainted altruism of the US, but a message to the countries sponsoring the militants (including Iran) and assuring Israel of guarantees.
In short, this is no longer a simple antipathy stemming from NATO spending or trade deficits. US administration officials are more hostile to the EU than Trump himself.
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