Pentagon recently warned employees against the use of signaling, a messaging app that is encrypted due to technical vulnerabilities, the NPR report reveals.
The report came a day after the Atlantic published a story detailing the top national security authorities, including the US Vice President and the US Secretary of Defense, accidentally adding journalists to the Signal Group Chat.
The Atlantic revelation caused widespread rage with the lapse of security, and sent shocking ripples by invading diplomacy around the world. But Trump administration officials have tried to downplay the sensitivity of information exposed to journalists.
However, according to the pentagonal “Opsec Special Bulletin,” which NPR reporters saw, a Russian hacking group could exploit signal vulnerabilities to spy on encrypted organizations and target “people of interest.”
Signals use end-to-end encryption for messaging and calls. It is also an “open source” application. This means that the code in your app is open to independent reviews of any vulnerabilities. Apps are usually used as a secure way to communicate.
Pentagon-wide notes are permitted to use “third-party messaging apps” such as those used to share uncategorized information, but not to use them to send “private” uncategorized information.
A signal spokesman said in a statement to NPR that he “don’t know of any vulnerabilities or what is expected that it has not been addressed publicly.”
The Atlantic narrative, in which editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg explains the signal between the higher Trump administration, led to widespread ridiculous online, pointing to the lack of outspoken candidates in discussing the original mistakes in adding journalists to military strikes and sensitive chats. The chat included top-level officials within the Trump administration, including Vice President, J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegses, CIA Director, John Ratcliffe and others.
Goldberg did not release all of the article’s messages. When appearing on Tuesday’s Liberal Podcast, Goldberg said the Trump administration refused to release a full thread despite saying that no classified information was shared. Trump dismissed the security leak as “glitch.”
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Democratic politicians have been strongly criticizing Intelligence Agency officials for their actions. During a hearing to the Senate Intelligence Email Committee on Tuesday, the Democratic senators lodged CIA Headratcliffe and FBI director Kash Patel’s National Intelligence Email Director in a signal chat leak.
Goldberg received information about a series of upcoming airstrikes in the area managed by Houthi on March 15, just hours before the strike took place. Iran-backed Houthis said at least 31 people have been killed as a result of the strike.
The US has been shocking the Houthi region since November 2023 when the Houthis began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in retaliation for a US-backed Israeli attack on Gaza.
