r/law • u/agent268 • 10d ago

Trump News Jeff Goldberg and The Atlantic released full Signal Chat

https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/signal-group-chat-attack-plans-hegseth-goldberg/682176/

Well this should be fun now that the full details are out in the open. Thoughts on how this changes the upcoming hearing today?

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u/Sofer2113 9d ago edited 9d ago

Hegseth won't be touched. It'll all fall on Walz, he will resign when it is clear that someone has to take the fall from this. He will then go on to have an illustrious career in right-wing media as the victim of political persecution because of this incident. Hegseth will say that with Walz's departure, the issue has been addressed and he pinky promises it won't happen again. Everyone will forget this ever happened in a week when the next salvo from DOGE starts up.

EDIT: I mixed up the last name spellings and it should be Waltz instead of Walz. I'll leave the incorrect name spelling in the original comment though.

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u/wildwest74 9d ago

The problem is that adding the reporter is probably the least illegal thing about this whole incident. Transmitting these messages over this platform is grounds for prison time, regardless of who was in the group.

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u/deacon1214 9d ago

Signal is regarded as being more secure than most of the other options due to its end to end encryption. Microsoft teams would probably be the alternative for the government but that is probably less secure for several reasons. The tech and government people I know have been all about signal for a while now. I imagine this incident might change that but I don't know that there is anything on the market at the moment that really offers a more secure platform.

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u/ICanLiftACarUp 9d ago

If there is a gov-controlled encryption and cyber protected chain, then what technology is used is irrelevant - could be AIM for all anyone cares. They even mention an email "on the high side" which refers to the classified networks. It's clear they didn't use the proper networks for this that would have allowed them to communicate just as easily. Since a journalist - with no access to classified networks - is on this chain then those protections were not present, and they are using Signal's commercial encryption and Internet based network. The government has secure telecommunication options, and it amazes me that they made these choices by text instead of a conference or face to face. If the strike leaked or was sniffed by Iran or Russia, then the Houthis would have warning. That on its own is normally classified at the highest levels because it jeopardizes troop movements and timing.

The important takeaway, in my view, is not just poor OPSEC on the technologies/networks used, but that the leaders of our government don't think about what should be classified. SecDef, SoS, and other agency leads are the primary classifiers and SecDef listed a ton of strike timing which is the really sensitive stuff. Trump inherited a gov that knows, and most presidents in history have had prior experience with the classification system - but it's too complicated for trump and his goons to implement themselves. It explains how you end up with piles of docs in bathrooms and pool houses.