It looks like Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic has kicked over a hornet’s next. His reporting on the Trump Administration bigwigs planning a military strike on Yemen’s Houthis has grown legs. I could be wrong, but despite furious GOP attempts to tamp down the story it’s going to dominate the news again today, and plenty of days to come. “SignalGate” will enter the lexicon. In and of itself this horrifying breach of National Security is huge news. However even before finishing my first read of Goldberg’s article detailing the non-government chat app message string he was invited to something important hit me. It was the realization that if something THIS sensitive was being discussed on an app any of us can download onto our phones a whole lot more Trump administration business is being discussed on Signal and other non-government systems!
Trump famously hates having records of what he (and his minions) have done or plan to do. I keep thinking about his first term when the news broke about him griping at lawyers from the WH Counsel’s Office taking notes, or anyone in any meeting (not just advisors who also happened to have legal training) taking notes. Trump himself we learned would tear up documents and papers on the Resolute desk and toss them into the trash. When THAT became public he started heading to his bathroom to tear stuff up into tiny pieces and flushing it down the toilet! Presidential and other government communications and records are by law supposed to be preserved. Trumpty is more like a mob boss in this regard – “no record of nothing.” So even in his first term Jared, Wannabee Princess Ivanka and many others used non-government systems to communicate.
It shouldn’t surprise any of us to learn the Trump Maladministration 2.0 follows their leader and tries to hide what they do. They get government issued phones, computers etc. and have access to SCIFs in buildings that conduct government business. They are also warned not to download non-government approved software and/or “apps” onto their devices. Signal for example. In fact DOD issued a specific warning to its personnel NOT to download it! However it’s clear that just as before these a$$hats will use personal devices, or unauthorized civilian apps on their government ones. All to prevent there being a record of whatever they were saying/doing.
So, at the moment we have a huge news story about a) discussions planning a major military strike up to and including the actual operational details being shared with everyone a few hours before the planes took off to carry it out, and b) a freaking journalist inadvertently being included in the group. (On the latter point I have to say I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was someone from Fox) This is bad on so many levels entire books will be written about this fiasco. Especially with new details coming to light including the fact that, as Ursula reported here on Politizoom that one participant took part in a Signal chat from inside the f**king Kremlin! I get that for whatever reason Steve Witkoff might be in Moscow for a meeting with Putin when this chat group held a conference call. What I DON’T get (in addition to his taking part on a civilian phone app) is that he took part while in the Kremlin instead of a SCIF at the U.S. Embassy!
How many participants in this series of war planning chats were in public places as they took part? Or even at home where perhaps there were guest over for whatever reason? It’s terrifying to contemplate the LACK of operational security that was displayed in this incident. That the Houthis didn’t learn of it ahead of time is lucky as hell for those who stood into harm’s way to carry out the airstrikes. I don’t know about you but a ‘Well, things worked out okay and none of our people got hurt so what’s the big deal?’ doesn’t cut it. I can guarantee you if Democrats were taking such a casual attitude with those types of comments in an attempt to brush off how serious this is the GOP, to a person would be HOWLING AT THE MOON! Screaming for anyone involved to be hauled up, then drawn and quartered like the William Wallace character in Braveheart! Any one of them who denies it is a goddamned liar!
Again however I want to talk about what I said at the end of the opening paragraph. This is only the tip of the iceberg. You can be sure Signal isn’t the only non-approved app that’s getting used by Trump folks these days. You can also be sure they are conducting government business on personal devices instead of government issued ones as they are supposed to do. Worse, some of that business is classified and we now have a glaring example of just how little even the most highly classified stuff matters to these people. Hiding what they are doing, both in the moment and after the fact, the avoidance of accountability is what they care about. If people, from troops to intelligence assets DIE then the attitude is ‘Oh well, sh*t happens but MY fingerprints won’t be found to be on it!’
This is not the way things should work. There are procedures to properly discuss government business and keep required records. EXTRA procedures to protect classified discussions and material have also been in place for decades. The system, when used as designed freaking works. Ah, but we have a certain someone explaining to those of us who’ve had actual security clearances and been in the trenches that we are rubes. Good ole Elon Musk has decreed that ALL the procedures that have served us well and for so long are worthless. Outdated ‘crap’ and so on. I kid you not. I learned too many decades ago as a young man that no matter how bad things are they can always get worse. Now, as an old man I’m learning that no matter how angry I am, how outrageous things are there is a new level to be found every day!
Musk is out of control of course, but his arrogance in assuming expertise on matters he doesn’t know jack-sh*t about is breathtaking. In this article from The Independent we learn Musk isn’t surprised news of this Signal chat string “leaked” – or that it took place on Signal at all:
Musk shared an X post by the author and cartoonist behind the Dilbert comics, Scott Adams, who wrote: “If DOGE taught us anything, it’s that all of our government systems are stone-age relics. My best guess is that every government official in both parties uses commercial apps for all but the most sensitive stuff. There is no real choice.”
“Most government systems are shockingly primitive,” the Department of Government Efficiency lead, who President Donald Trump charged with gutting departments and slashing bureaucracy, responded on Tuesday morning.
For good measure Trump’s latest version of Iraq’s “Baghdad Bob”, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt waved in with some wannabe Barbie cheerleading to denigrate the reporter, a highly respected journalist with more years doing National Security journalism than Leavitt has been alive. The linked article tells us she said Goldberg’s article was “sensationalist spin” and that no war plans were discussed. MUSK responded to her statement with three American flag emojis. Figures.
I’m kicking myself for having missed most of the public portion of the hearings on Capitol Hill today. Tulsi Gabbard and John RATcliffe got put on the spot ‘bigly’ and not even the GOP Senators could fully protect them. And that was only the public portion – oh how I’d love to be a fly on the wall for the private session. Hell, if it’s not held in a SCIF we might find out what does down because Gabbard and Ratcliffe will have apps on their phones that can be hacked. (FYI, when going into a SCIF one has to surrender ALL electronic devices. Phones, laptop computers, tablets etc. Even s-called Smart Watches!) Alas such classified hearings are held in SCIF mode.
I recall watching Goldberg on Jen Psaki’s show last night giving his first public interview. It’s worth keeping in mind he didn’t ‘leak’ anything he’d been told on the sly by an actual leaker. He was INVITED into that highly classified chat group. NO ONE questioned his being there, as in while a discussion was taking place things like ‘Hey, who is JG?’, or JG, you haven’t said anything at all, what do you think and by the way WHO are you?’ No, Goldberg simple reported only part of what he became privy too. That was my takeaway from that interview with Psaki. Reading his article yesterday he noted there were things he wasn’t sharing – for National Security reasons. Still, hearing him actually say that, to talk about there being things he knew that he also knows shouldn’t be discussed publicly really hit me. So yeah, Leavitt looks particularly stupid (again) making comments about “sensationalist spin.”
Here’s the kicker. From Trump himself and from the members of that Signal chat group the claim is that nothing classified was discussed/shared. That’s their LIE and they are sticking to it. Including Gabbard and Ratcliffe today during Congressional testimony. Since the hearing was run by the GOP head of the committee I doubt they were sworn in but it’s still against the law for them to LIE to Congress in a hearing. That’s why Ratcliff answered yes to a series of questions about simple operational matters being things that we wouldn’t want an adversary we were about to attack to know ahead of time – IOW classified! For damned sure the actual Ops Plan shouldn’t have been shared on Signal and that’s what I don’t get.
At some point, if it hasn’t happened already Goldberg himself will be deposed by the committee and the contents of his phone shared. It will include that Ops Plan! He wouldn’t have gone public, written what he did if he didn’t have the literal “receipts.” Do these idiots not realize that simple fact? It would seem they don’t. And it WAS classified information. Let me make this painfully simple so that even a Meal Team Six MAGA can understand it. Let’s say our own or any country’s military is planning to carry out an attack. Do they create a chat group on Xitter or some other public platform so that anyone can listen in to the ‘Principals’ discussing whether to carry out such at attack? What the consequences might be and how allies might react? To share the DETAILS (aircraft and weapons that will be used, when and where they will strike etc.) on a platform where anyone can see it? Of course not because that kind of thing is CLASSIFIED and at the highest levels.
That however is the state of things under Trump. In the zeal to prevent any record of who said/authorized what use of govt. devices and following longstanding protocols which have never been breached by adversaries non-govt. devices, civilian created “apps” and so on will be used. The LAST thing Trump wants is a proper record, a ‘paper trail.’ So, even though the standard way of doing things has worked, that enemies have never learned our intentions in advance we have Elon Musk telling everyone all that ‘old stuff’ is ‘obsolete’, ‘junk’, ‘crap’ etc. That instead of the highest level of security and encryption that’s ever been created, and procedures such as only discussing such matters as military attacks in SCIFs that civilian created apps that any of us can download are the way to go! No wonder Russia (and China too I’m sure) has been so interested in Signal.
All those conservatives who made such a fuss over China and Tik-Tok have turned tame this week. Given the choice of protecting National Security and our troops (and civilians doing intel work, often in dangerous places) or protecting their Trumpty they are choosing the latter. However I have to return to where I started. As bad as all this is I know, I KNOW in my heart it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Musk has inadvertently spilled the beans in saying in effect ‘of course they used Signal – it and other non-government apps and platforms are the way to go instead of that boring old government stuff to use.’ I shudder to think just how much classified, National Security stuff has been shared in chats and on platforms that are civilian, NOT government created and maintained. If you want to be truly terrified then consider this: What if the not-so-good folks at Signal or some similar app decide to cash in on the gold mine of information Trump admin folks are sharing. Yes, the provide a level of encryption but they are the ones who created it. They hold the literal key to UN-encrypting whatever they want!
We have no idea of how much is out there. We’ll likely never know. However I again say I know this: If it were the other way around, if DEMOCRATS were doing what Trump, his people and Republicans are doing the Republicans would be calling for blood in the streets! In the meantime I’m torn between wanting to know all that we don’t know about how much is out there ‘because Trump’ and not wanting to know for fear it would give me a heart attack or stroke to be confronted with how vulnerable we are. Remember this fact about icebergs – 90% of them are submerged. We only see the tip. This particular iceberg is directly connected to our National Security!
**********Zoomers, if you have any spare change between the cushions, we could use it. We’re in a rough season now with half the country depressed and a lot of people tuning out from politics. In all events, thank you for coming here to read. We’ll get through this together, I have complete faith. When I do not know. Ursula**********
Just to amplify your points, Dennis. DOGE’s gutting of government data systems has opened huge holes in the security apparati of the various departments, including Treasury. Not only have huge databases gone out the door in thumb drives and been loaded onto insecure servers, they’ve cut IT staff who run and secure the systems.
The reason the government continues to use old, clunky computers and software isn’t because they don’t know how to upgrade. It’s because the old systems work reliably and are secure. Their very age makes them less vulnerable to attack because hackers these days know nothing about COBOL and some of the other old but venerable programming languages these applications were developed on. The new systems are complex and full of vulnerabilities, so IT people of my generation followed the KISS principle and “If It’s Not Broke, Don’t Fix I!” They didn’t touch stuff that was mission-critical, like getting SS checks out on time.
And you are absolutely right about SignalGate being the tip. Last year Chinese and other hackers attacked both government systems and major commercial network carriers. Security specialists described the situation as catastrophic because the hackers had penetrated network servers and control systems so deeply and broadly. The damage still hasn’t been fully repaired, and with DOGE new attacks are probably underway to exploit weaknesses in undermanned systems. So, while the focus is on this incredibly stupid breach of security on Signal, there are likely bigger stories hiding elsewhere. And because these systems control financial transactions, communications networks, gas and oil pipelines, transportation systems, and military installations — to name just a few — if they are activated they could quite literally bring the country to a standstill and cause widespread panic.
Your point about what if it had been a democratic administration who had done this- my husband reminded me about all the fuss around Hilary Clinton’s email server.
And the cry of “But Her Emails!’
Absolutely no shock that the Rat is quoting Scot Adams, SA is a major RWNJ these days and went that way before Maladministration 1.0