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U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

theatlantic.com

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Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#161

Post by nunez »

neverokay wrote: post #54
lapcat wrote: post #27

> Waltz set some of the messages in the Signal group to disappear after one week, and some after four. That raises questions about whether the officials may have violated federal records law: Text messages about official acts are considered records that should be preserved. I suspect that this was the point of their using Signal, to avoid preservation of records.

The DoD or Pentagon don’t have their own messaging apps? Maybe our government doesn’t spend enough on tech. To me this is the same as if this were happening on Zoom or Discord, since these are not exactly world war level apps. Finally, the echoes of Dr Strangelove are strong with this one. A veritable board room of talking heads that don’t ever really talk about life or death, but just the material numbers of raw com…

They do, and they are certified for this kind of communication.

Is Signal even FedRAMP? I don't think it is.

Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#162

Post by ipython »

danso wrote: post #11

Staggering display of incompetence and carelessness. And unfortunately, one that we’re unlikely to get much transparency about, in terms of how such an operational screwup was allowed to happen. > At 11:44 a.m., the account labeled “Pete Hegseth” posted in Signal a “TEAM UPDATE.” I will not quote from this update, or from certain other subsequent texts. The information contained in them, if they had been read by an a…

Don’t worry - this massive fuckup will surely spark numerous congressional investigations, resignations, and trigger serious reflection by the administration on their security protocols so they will comply with the necessary recordkeeping laws, confidentiality and proper handling of classified information in the future.

Oh who am I kidding.

Less than 8h later: “it’s just an oopsie right? No harm no foul- nothing to see here folks” https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/03/24/congress/mi...

Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#163

Post by ty6853 »

itbeho wrote: post #155
Balgair wrote: post #77

If anything, I'm a bit surprised that Jeff Goldberg burned this source. If anything, I'd suspect that he'd keep the channel open as long as he could. Or, he's got other channels that work better. All the same, I mean, wow. These guys are just morons here, there's really no other way around it. I'm trying to think of a charitable way to spin this and I've got nothing. Like, very clearly, these people are going to get…

He did the right thing. He's obviously of a certain political bent, but recognized this kind of leak could lead to the loss of American service member lives. He didn't share everything from the chat. I respect him for what he did. And I agree with your assessment. Morons...

Hard to say. Sharing it may have lead to saving of servicemen lives since it may cause an abort. Not like it is a self defense mission, attacks on Houthi is totally optional meddling that likely breeds more 'terrorists'.

Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#164

Post by rnjesus »

atonse wrote: post #141

Setting aside the obvious shock of the actual subject, I'm going to try the herculean task of bringing this back to being a HN-related topic... My guess is that there is someone named Jeffrey Goldberg in the NatSec team (or high up, it seems like a common combination of first and last name at least), and likely that they meant to add him, rather than the EDITOR IN CHIEF of the Atlantic of all people. Could this be a…

i think this is likely what happened, though i also find it just as plausible that he was fat-fingered or drunk-added into the group (i’ve been added to group chats accidentally by both these “methods”)

Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#165

Post by nunez »

nickthegreek wrote: post #10

Is it wild that a 3rd party app like Signal is used for this type of communication? I feel like that's crazy.

Yes.

When you get a clearance, it is inculcated upon you that you absolutely do not leak cleared information. If you THINK something cleared, it's best to treat it like it is.

It's possible that there is some 10D chess happening here, but I wouldn't expect details like this to be approved for apps like Signal.

Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#166

Post by n1b0m »

In 2023, Hegseth had his own critique of the Biden administration handling classified documents “flippantly”, remarking on Fox News that “If at the very top there’s no accountability”, then we have “two tiers of justice”.

https://x.com/MattGertz/status/1904228588414464167

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/24/journalist-t...

Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#167

Post by dekhn »

otterley wrote: post #38
llm_nerd wrote: post #18

This is an insane story demonstrating extraordinary incompetence, not to mention revealing some rather comical beliefs about American exceptionalism. It's on the bottom of the third page, pushed down by flags. During any other administration, such a disastrously , criminally incompetent use of technology would have been top of the front page for days, but this administration is so cosmically incompetent that pointing…

The top story on Fox News right now is "Trump allies move to prevent 'activist judges' from overstepping presidential authority." This story isn't even on the front page.

It was a couple hours later (on Fox).

Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#168

Post by mrtesthah »

mindslight wrote: post #153
anigbrowl wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SO much for 'the most transparent administration in history', not that I bought into that claim in the first place. Seems like a violation of multiple public record-keeping laws.

But they are extremely transparent. All of their actions are clearly in furtherance of corruption, stealing, and helping Russia (and China) destroy the United States. Unfortunately we also live in the time with the largest mass media consumption (social media), all but guaranteeing their followers keep rationalizing their actions with a litany of talking points rather than understanding straightforward criticism said…

>…all but guaranteeing their followers keep rationalizing their actions with a litany of talking points rather than understanding any criticism said by someone on the "other" team

To me, the one-sided right wing media bubble seems to be the root of how we got here in the first place. It allows politicians to avoid any and all accountability for their actions. Popular rule cannot function in this environment, and if it continues, nothing will stand in the way of this administration destroying what’s left of the country.

Re: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat

#169

Post by alistairSH »

otterley wrote: post #71
vwcx wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, it broke as an exclusive to the Atlantic about 180 minutes ago. The NYT now has it "above the fold" on their front page. Unlike a story coming directly from a public source, it sometimes takes a bit longer to spin up re-reporting on another outlet's scoop like this.

Good point. It's now the top story on WSJ as well.

And FoxNews has the Hegseth “nuh uh, no we didn’t” statement above the fold and the actual news in small print. Le Sigh.
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