A recent report highlights an incident where a journalist was inadvertently invited to a secret military chat, with the iPhone being identified as partly at fault. On March 13th, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, was mistakenly included in a group messaging chat that revealed details of a covert U.S. military operation in Yemen. The invitation, sent by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, was intended for Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council (NSC), but Waltz selected Goldberg’s contact by error.
Goldberg subsequently published what he discovered about the military plans, raising serious concerns about the unauthorized sharing of classified information. He noted that members of the Trump administration previously utilized the Signal app on unsecured personal devices, potentially making them vulnerable to foreign adversaries. According to a report from The Guardian, the blame for Goldberg’s inclusion partly lies with Waltz’s iPhone.
The device suggested an updated phone number that Waltz assumed belonged to Hughes. Unknown to him, the number was actually Goldberg’s, which had been saved in the contact information for Hughes after Hughes had previously received an email from Goldberg critical of Trump. The White House explained that the iPhone’s suggestion was misleading, leading to the accidental inclusion of Goldberg.
This incident raises questions not only about the use of Signal—a messaging app that lacks adequate security for classified communications—but also about the administration’s reliance on such platforms. While it is crucial for them to maintain real-time communication across multiple agencies, the continuation of using Signal comes across as less than ideal. Ultimately, this mishap underscores the importance of vigilance in handling sensitive information but also appears to be brushed off as a minor error by the administration, with Waltz seemingly not facing severe repercussions.