The High Cost of Team Trump’s Sloppy OPSEC

This OPSEC Special Bulletin, on the left, went out to the Pentagon during the same time period that SECDEF was using an unauthorized Signal chat.

The Bulwark: The top issue of the 2016 presidential election, the one that changed Donald Trump from a TV loudmouth to a world historical figure, was information security. Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the mere possibility that classified information might have traversed it dominated media coverage and featured prominently in Trump’s attacks. Then he won the election and became the biggest information security risk in U.S. history. Eight years later and the dumb keeps coming: In a stunning new security lapse revealed Monday, top Trump administration officials included Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg in their group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal. At one point, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared operational details about upcoming U.S. airstrikes in Yemen, and two hours later they happened. We’re not talking about an embedded mole carefully eluding detection. Trump’s national security advisor, Michael Waltz, sent Goldberg—a personification of establishment media if there ever was one—an invitation. Goldberg says he eavesdropped on the chat for two days. Apparently none of America’s national security leaders or their staffers noticed. This incident exposes a rich vein of political hypocrisy—all the untold hours of Trump administration officials criticizing Hillary Clinton for her emails—that it is difficult to resist mining. But this latest lapse fits into a disturbing broader pattern, with serious implications for our national security. U.S. military commanders see easily avoidable leaks like this and worry about operational security. At minimum, when the most senior defense leaders are information security risks, it adds another factor to planning that’s already quite complex. U.S. intelligence partners see failures like this and conclude America can’t be trusted. They have to operate under the assumption that any sensitive information given to the United States could be accidentally leaked by top officials. Not to mention the possibility that President Trump or longtime Putin sympathizer Tulsi Gabbard, the new director of national intelligence, will give it away to adversaries. The loss of trust damages counterterrorism, insight into foreign governments, and other national security goals. If these idiots are accidentally roping in the editor of the Atlantic on secret war deliberations, what are the chances they’re making other serious information-security mistakes, including ones that create openings for foreign intelligence agencies? Probably pretty high…” Also note, this group chat revealed the name of an undercover CIA operative. Mr. Goldberg stated he is well aware of the security protocols that occurred during these chats, and will not be a party to undermining our national security. Et tu Brute?

Reference – The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling. By Jeffrey Goldberg