(Adnkronos) – Not one but twenty chats on Signal. After the scandal that recently broke out over the use of the app by officials of the new administration to communicate the government’s confidential plans on Yemen, Politico publishes new revelations, attributed to four people familiar with the matter because they were directly involved. The team of US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz – he writes – used to use this same means of communication to coordinate official work on issues such as Ukraine, China, Gaza, policies in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. In particular, two of these people said they had participated in or were directly aware of at least 20 such chats. All, however, said they had direct knowledge of discussions regarding sensitive information.
The revelation brings to light a more extensive use of the application than previously reported and sheds new light on how much the Trump administration’s national security team relies on Signal, a publicly available messaging application, to carry out its work, observes ‘Politico’.
“It was customary to organize chats on any national security topic,” said one of the people involved, adding that the groups often included government members and senior staff. (continues)
The use of Signal is permitted on government devices and some agencies automatically install it on employees’ phones, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes pointed out, adding that officials used the app in both the Biden and Trump administrations. “It is one of the approved methods of communicating, but it is not among the main ones, it is one of the many approved for unclassified material”. “Any claim of use for classified information is 100% false”.
None of the four sources cited claimed to be aware of the sharing of classified information, but all said the messages on the group chats included sensitive details about the work of national security. “Waltz built the entire National Security Council communication process on Signal,” said another of the people who participated in several chats.
Waltz and the new National Security Council staff began using Signal during the transition period before the inauguration and never stopped, according to another source. “This is a group of people who have never been here before and have not been able to get past campaign mode,” explains a former Trump administration official quoted by Politico.
