Trump’s Defense Secretary Accidentally Texted War Plans to The Atlantic: ‘I Didn’t Think It Could Be Real,’ Editor Says

[Always in His Presence]

I've already explained why things that might seem on the surface innocuous might be the missing piece needed to complete the enemy's picture. And if it's not today, it may be tomorrow.

and maybe not.

This isn't the Enigma that was deciphered after realizing that Heil Hitler was used on every transmission.

How about if we don't blow things out of proportion?

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Article 123. UCMJ

 

[Say it aint so]

A DHS staffer faces serious punishment for accidentally adding a reporter to a group email​

A federal worker accidentally includes a journalist on a detailed message in advance of a government operation.​

​

While that sounds like the case of The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief being added to a group Signal chat by Trump’s national security adviser Michael Waltz, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed military attack plans in Yemen, it’s not.​

​

It’s what happened to a longtime Department of Homeland Security employee who told colleagues she inadvertently sent unclassified details of an upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation to a journalist in late January, according to former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser, one former DHS official and one current DHS official. (The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they do not want to endanger their current or future career opportunities.) But unlike Waltz and Hegseth, who both remain in their jobs, the career DHS employee was put on administrative leave and told late last week that the agency intends to revoke her security clearance, the officials said.​

 

[Say it aint so]

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified to House Intelligence Committee members Wednesday that encrypted messaging app Signal comes “pre-installed” on government devices — a potentially major shift in official communications on the heels of a massive Chinese government-linked hack of U.S. telecommunications networks last year.

​

My personal opinion is that they should remove the app before distributing the phone.

But to turn this one instance into a national emergency is ridiculous.

They were using personal phones.

 

[BPPLEE]

A DHS staffer faces serious punishment for accidentally adding a reporter to a group email​

A federal worker accidentally includes a journalist on a detailed message in advance of a government operation.​

​

While that sounds like the case of The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief being added to a group Signal chat by Trump’s national security adviser Michael Waltz, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed military attack plans in Yemen, it’s not.​

​

It’s what happened to a longtime Department of Homeland Security employee who told colleagues she inadvertently sent unclassified details of an upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation to a journalist in late January, according to former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser, one former DHS official and one current DHS official. (The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they do not want to endanger their current or future career opportunities.) But unlike Waltz and Hegseth, who both remain in their jobs, the career DHS employee was put on administrative leave and told late last week that the agency intends to revoke her security clearance, the officials said.​

Yeah,I’m sure leaking details of an ICE raid to a reporter was just an honest mistake

 

[Say it aint so]

Yeah,I’m sure leaking details of an ICE raid to a reporter was just an honest mistake

Seeing it was to a right wing outlet, chances are it was. But nevertheless, the appropriate measures were taken while with the Signal mess, they just choose to lie about it and no investigation what so ever is forthcoming. Do kind of see a discrepancy here?

 

[BPPLEE]

Seeing it was to a right wing outlet, chances are it was. But nevertheless, the appropriate measures were taken while with the Signal mess, they just chose to lie about it and no investigation what so ever is forthcoming.

I thought there was a lawsuit and the same judge who issued the TRO on the flights of TDA members got the case.
edit; after reading the article I don’t think this employee deserves anything more than a write up

 

[Say it aint so]

I thought there was a lawsuit and the same judge who issued the TRO on the flights of TDA members got the case.
edit; after reading the article I don’t think this employee deserves anything more than a write up

Not the same.

 

[BPPLEE]

Not the same.

What’s not the same? That I think this person should keep their job?

 

[Say it aint so]

What’s not the same? That I think this person should keep their job?

Having an outside group having sue to police the Department of Defense is not the same as the warranted DOJ or IG investigation.

 

[BPPLEE]

Having an outside group having sue to police the Department of Defense is not the same as the warranted DOJ or IG investigation.

Okay

 

[RDKirk]

and maybe not.

This isn't the Enigma that was deciphered after realizing that Heil Hitler was used on every transmission.

How about if we don't blow things out of proportion?

This was released some time back:

Back around 2000, a high-level associate of Osama bin Laden was captured. Over the course of years of interrogation in Cuba, he had nonchalantly mentioned the name of a low-level, unimportant person within al-Qaeda. Ten years later, as US intelligence routinely scanned electronic communications chatter that might or might not be genuine al-Qaeda communications, they heard that name mentioned. In this case, it was in reference to Osama bin Laden's personal driver. Yes, the man who had been unimportant enough to have been nonchalantly revealed ten years earlier had risen in rank over time to become someone consistently by bin Laden's side.

That gave credibility to that particular channel of chatter, both the originator and the receiver, that the Intelligence Community had not had before. Those were people who were truly "in the know" and not just "wannabes." That channel became important as an intelligence source. Moreover, it gave the IC a real grasp of bin Laden's whereabouts and movements...and it wasn't long afterward that bin Laden wound up dead.

How out of proportion was the mere dropping of the name of someone of little importance?

But here is where I think we went wrong: After bin Laden was killed, Obama immediately went public with it. I wouldn't have done that, and I'm sure there was a lot of cringing going on in the IC the night of that announcement. If the US had said nothing--if Obama had kept the matter secret for just a while longer--it would have provided another intelligence bonus as we listened to the chatter in the aftermath. Which channels seemed unaffected? Which ones changed abruptly? Which went silent? That would have given us additional verification of which were actually al-Qaeda and which were wannabes.

In the same way, even the release of a contact list or an email addressee list provides useful information to enemy intelligence agencies even if they can't decrypt the content of the message. Even if the content of the message has been OBE'd (Overcome by Events), it can contain valuable information. That's why many WWII German and Japanese messages decrypted in the 1940s remain classifed even today.

 

[RDKirk]

They were using personal phones.

I would have fallen on my sword to prevent that, if I were in charge of their communications security.

 

[Maori Aussie]

I would have fallen on my sword to prevent that, if I were in charge of their communications security.

For the sake of others, I might explain those who would have fallen on their sword in a modern context. I recall an account of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Most there performed the 'normal' fire evacuation. But certain soldiers were duty bound to manage the critical communication systems of the US armed services, and had to stay at their comms posts, until the smoke descended below the level of their consoles, rendering their consoles useless. Only then did they crawl on their bellies under the asphyxiating smoke to safety. The "fall on their sword" comms operators became part of 9/11 history. I salute them.

 

[Maori Aussie]

I do not mean to offend anyone, or convince people one way or the other, but I would share an observation which applies internationally.
Almost universally, discipline applies to members of the armed forces.
But, also almost universally, holders of high political office exempt themselves (rightly or wrongly) from some or most of that discipline.
I am not saying it is right; I am just making an observation.

Andrew J. May - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, commander of the U.S. submarine fleet in the Pacific, estimated that May's security breach cost the United States Navy as many as 10 submarines and 800 crewmen killed in action."

 

[wing2000]

First if all it wasn't unsecured. It's encrypted.

Signal is only secure as the phone on which it resides. How many of the 18 participants on this call were using their personal phones? [we don't know, but that should be investigated.

Secondly this group was assembled regarding this purpose and it wasn't Hesgeth who assembled it. He had no reason to believe the group had a journalist in it, who wasn't supposed to be there.

The group was assembled for the purpose of coordination...which Waltz indicates in his first post (underline added):

Michael Waltz
Team – establishing a principles group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.
Pls provide the best staff POC from your team for us to coordinate with over the next couple days and over the weekend. Thx.


It was the Vice President who subsequently veered off into a policy discussion.
And it was Hegseth who, on his own volition, chose to share operational information -- both in advance of the operation and as it happened.

**At any point, any one of the participants could have said: "Let's move this conversation to a secure channel"

They did not.

He didn't act like a teenager. That's your prejudice talking. Waltz had a right to assemble this group. And none of us would have known anything about this if someone attached to Waltz hadn't invited the journalist by mistake. Which was a mistake which should be delt with.

His lack of judgement speaks for itself.

 

[wing2000]

Can you cite the violation from the UCMJ please.

It's common sense. Every soldier, airman, marine and sailor know that one should never share operational details in unsecure settings or channels.

 

[RDKirk]

It's common sense. Every soldier, airman, marine and sailor know that one should never share operational details in unsecure settings or channels.

Well, it's not common sense, but it is common doctrine.

 

[RDKirk]

Signal is only secure as the phone on which it resides. How many of the 18 participants on this call were using their personal phones? [we don't know, but that should be investigated.

My understanding is that they were using their personal phones.

But if they weren't...why did someone have a journalist in the contact list of his government phone?

This is why they should be using separate phones.

Right now, I'm using a phone with two SIM cards to have two separate lines, and that's still not secure enough because they share contacts.

 

[BPPLEE]

Signal is only secure as the phone on which it resides. How many of the 18 participants on this call were using their personal phones? [we don't know, but that should be investigated.



The group was assembled for the purpose of coordination...which Waltz indicates in his first post (underline added):

Michael Waltz
Team – establishing a principles group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.
Pls provide the best staff POC from your team for us to coordinate with over the next couple days and over the weekend. Thx.


It was the Vice President who subsequently veered off into a policy discussion.
And it was Hegseth who, on his own volition, chose to share operational information -- both in advance of the operation and as it happened.

**At any point, any one of the participants could have said: "Let's move this conversation to a secure channel"

They did not.



His lack of judgement speaks for itself.

It was Wong who put the group together and mixed up the initials JG with someone else who's initials are JG