US DoD Security breach (split from What is DEI, and why is it dividing America?)

[CharonY]

On 2/22/2025 at 1:40 PM, swansont said:

Trump (via Hegseth) fired the head of the joint chiefs, a black man, and the proposed white replacement is not qualified to take the job, and so will require a presidential waiver.

The kind of situation DEI was designed to avoid. But that’s the point of getting rid of DEI; gotta have white guys in charge wherever you can.

Also, to further flog the dead horse on the GOP's commitment to merit: Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to a journalist

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/

https://apnews.com/article/war-plans-trump-hegseth-atlantic-230718a984911dd8663d59edbcb86f2a

Apparently putting a white guy in charge does not make things automatically better.

[TheVat]

42 minutes ago, CharonY said:

Also, to further flog the dead horse on the GOP's commitment to merit: Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to a journalist

Adding to the question of the sentience of the TP admin, as in how would they handle the Mirror Test, they have been warning recently they will investigate unauthorized leaks to journalists, citing reporting in a number of publications.  This is quite the self-own for them.

[CharonY]

They would eat a mirror to own the libs.

[toucana]

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

Also, to further flog the dead horse on the GOP's commitment to merit: Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to a journalist

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/

https://apnews.com/article/war-plans-trump-hegseth-atlantic-230718a984911dd8663d59edbcb86f2a

Apparently putting a white guy in charge does not make things automatically better.

Quite apart from anything else, it’s a head-on breach of the Espionage Act of 1917, and the Federal Records of Act of 1950 to be using a private, open source, and non-official messaging app like Signal to share highly classified NSA military planning and intelligence discussions amongst government officials outside of official channels. They might as well as have put it on Facebook.

[J.C.MacSwell]

On 3/17/2025 at 5:17 PM, Trurl said:

I guess America First makes us stronger financially

Win-lose transactional positions are not very effective. Short term thinking at best, and even then especially unlikely when "broadcast" to customers.

[toucana]

4 hours ago, CharonY said:

Also, to further flog the dead horse on the GOP's commitment to merit: Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to a journalist

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/

https://apnews.com/article/war-plans-trump-hegseth-atlantic-230718a984911dd8663d59edbcb86f2a

Apparently putting a white guy in charge does not make things automatically better.

Earlier tonight ABC broadcast an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, which provides his own first-hand account of how he found himself invited into this Signal chat group, and what he saw there - which is quite jaw-dropping:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzxv_6gbqCM

MSNBC did a section which included an interview with former Republican Senator for Missouri Claire McCaskill who points out that all of the discussions in that Signal group should have taken place face-to-face in a SCIF - (sensitive compartmented information facility) - basically a secure bunker protected by a Faraday Cage where you aren’t even allowed to wear an Apple Watch, let alone carry a cellphone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYw8cSA_ocQ

A number of sources carry selected screenshots of the actual chats taken from Jeffrey Goldberg’s cell phone, which are something else again…

[CharonY]

I did not expect the US to be run by a bunch of 12 year old bullies. Beside the point, but is anyone else surprised that the US government is not using or do not have an internal tool for communications?

[iNow]

17 minutes ago, CharonY said:

the US government is not using or do not have an internal tool for communications?

They do have tools for this and special computers called high sides, but these DUI hires simply chose not to use them. 
 

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1005160.pdf

[toucana]

7 hours ago, iNow said:

They do have tools for this and special computers called high sides, but these DUI hires simply chose not to use them. 
 

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1005160.pdf

There were apparently 18 participants in this Signal group chat. One of them was Steve Witkoff, a realtor and long time friend of Trump who is acting as his personal envoy in the current Ukraine war ceasfire discussions taking place in Saudi Arabia and Moscow.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-putin-steve-witkoff-ukraine-peace-ceasefire-b2720313.html

According to Russian speaking journalist Olga Lautman, a timeline analysis of this text chain indicates that Witkoff was added to the Signal chat group on Thursday 13th March while he was actually in Moscow (he didn’t leave until the following day) - which means he was live texting with the entire senior Principals echelon of the American NSC about active US military operations on an unsecured private cell phone, using an non-official app (which the Russians are said to have compromised over a year ago) - and doing so on Russian soil !

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/russian-hackers-signal-spy/

If the Russians didn’t already have a full read-out capability of the NSC Signal chain, they almost certainly do now.

[exchemist]

2 hours ago, toucana said:

There were apparently 18 participants in this Signal group chat. One of them was Steve Witkoff, a realtor and long time friend of Trump who is acting as his personal envoy in the current Ukraine war ceasfire discussions taking place in Saudi Arabia and Moscow.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-putin-steve-witkoff-ukraine-peace-ceasefire-b2720313.html

According to Russian speaking journalist Olga Lautman, a timeline analysis of this text chain indicates that Witkoff was added to the Signal chat group on Thursday 13th March while he was actually in Moscow (he didn’t leave until the following day) - which means he was live texting with the entire senior Principals echelon of the American NSC about active US military operations on an unsecured private cell phone, using an non-official app (which the Russians are said to have compromised over a year ago) - and doing so on Russian soil !

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/russian-hackers-signal-spy/

If the Russians didn’t already have a full read-out capability of the NSC Signal chain, they almost certainly do now.

But the Russians are now the allies of the US, so why does this matter? 

[MigL]

15 hours ago, CharonY said:

Apparently putting a white guy in charge does not make things automatically better.

The color of their skin, or DEI, has little to do with anything.
It's their stupidity, perception that they can do no wrong, and total lack of responsibility for their actions that frustrates and angers.

I keep hoping I'll wake up soon.

[swansont]

10 hours ago, CharonY said:

I did not expect the US to be run by a bunch of 12 year old bullies. Beside the point, but is anyone else surprised that the US government is not using or do not have an internal tool for communications?

As iNow noted, they do.

An AP story on this said they used secure communication, but I think that just means encrypted. The DoD has a secure network, meaning you have to have special credentials to gain access to it, and the devices attached to it are located in secure facilities. A reporter/editor would not have those credentials.

They were flouting the procedures. Nothing accidental about this.

[iNow]

36 minutes ago, swansont said:

An AP story on this said they used secure communication, but I think that just means encrypted.

Exactly. It was encrypted, but that's about all.

Signal is a public company operating on cloud based servers and the principals on this chain were all on personal cell phones via public networks. The number of entry points and security gaps across that chain makes the encryption itself nearly meaningless in this context (made even worse per Toucana's post above suggesting this chain was flowing openly also over Russian networks which are all monitored by Kremlin and related actors). 

[geordief]

1 hour ago, exchemist said:

But the Russians are now the allies of the US, so why does this matter? 

I was going to make an identical post but aborted it on reflexion(the Russians might be  a little alarmed if they thought that they were now "allies")

[toucana]

17 hours ago, CharonY said:

Also, to further flog the dead horse on the GOP's commitment to merit: Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to a journalist

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/

https://apnews.com/article/war-plans-trump-hegseth-atlantic-230718a984911dd8663d59edbcb86f2a

Apparently putting a white guy in charge does not make things automatically better.

The sheer imbecility of this clown-show is almost beyond belief. It would appear that Jeffrey Goldberg Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic was inadvertently added to this Signal group because NSA Mike Waltz fat-fingered a Signal invite to JG instead of JV (JD Vance) the Vice-President when selecting names from his contacts list.

Having once been added to this group of 18, Jeffrey Goldberg simply stayed mum and lurked there, and it apparently didn’t occur to anyone else in the group to ask who this mysterious JG might be - before the journalist discretely removed himself after the bombs started falling.

The readout below of one message from NSA Mike Waltz is indicative of an inability to distinguish between one’s principals and one’s principles - reminiscent of the Groucho Marx joke - “Those are my principles, if you don’t like them .. well I have others”

[geordief]

3 minutes ago, toucana said:

before the journalist discretely removed himself after the bombs started

Are you sure it was after?

I thought it  was before.

[toucana]

9 minutes ago, geordief said:

Are you sure it was after?

I thought it  was before.

Absolutely sure. Jeffrey Goldberg discusses this exact point in some detail around 6.04 elapsed in this ABC News report when the anchor Linsey Davis asked him if he was removed from the chat.

 

 

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, geordief said:

I was going to make an identical post but aborted it on reflexion(the Russians might be  a little alarmed if they thought that they were now "allies")

Well it's obvious. This administration has good connections with Putin and happily repeats all the Kremlin's talking points. Furthermore the administration is extremely hostile to Europe, so the US and Russia have a common enemy.

[CharonY]

13 hours ago, iNow said:

They do have tools for this and special computers called high sides, but these DUI hires simply chose not to use them. 
 

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1005160.pdf

 

2 hours ago, swansont said:

As iNow noted, they do.

An AP story on this said they used secure communication, but I think that just means encrypted. The DoD has a secure network, meaning you have to have special credentials to gain access to it, and the devices attached to it are located in secure facilities. A reporter/editor would not have those credentials.

They were flouting the procedures. Nothing accidental about this.

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. Which makes the security breach way worse. But then on balance, perhaps not too surprising. Those folks are not much for rules. Or laws.

[iNow]

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

Those folks are not much for rules. Or laws.

Well, unless of course they can lambaste Hillary Clinton with them bc she had a private email server that didn't leak. 

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/24/trump-advisers-war-plans-democrats-classified-information-00246432

Quote

The Pentagon chief was also a prolific critic of Clinton during the height of the controversy over the former secretary of State’s private internet server.

“If it was anyone other than Hillary Clinton, they would be in jail right now,” Hegseth said in 2016 while a Fox News anchor. “Because the assumption is in the intelligence community, if you are using unclassified means, there is ... likelihood that foreign governments are targeting those accounts.”

 

Another element of this story which stands out to me is:

1. The Signal app auto deletes conversations within a few days or weeks based on OP settings. This is often one of the main reasons for using it

2. Communications of all administration officials are required to be archived as required by multiple federal laws

3. Both 1 & 2 cannot both occur 

[CharonY]

1 hour ago, iNow said:

Another element of this story which stands out to me is:

1. The Signal app auto deletes conversations within a few days or weeks based on OP settings. This is often one of the main reasons for using it

2. Communications of all administration officials are required to be archived as required by multiple federal laws

3. Both 1 & 2 cannot both occur 

That makes a lot of sense. A key element of this administration is to minimize transparency and accountability.

[TheVat]

Had several responses, all covered by able-bodied members already, so will just say I experienced an eerie flashback on TP's "Russia, if you're listening...." speech.  Europeans, don't give up on us yet.  Bernie, an 83 year old with more wit, smarts, and fire in the belly than anyone in the TP admin, is starting to rally Americans on his Fight Oligarchy tour...or at least rouse them from their slumbers.  

Anyway, riding a thin line between laughing and weeping at the sheer stupidity of it all, especially that Waltz fat-fingered Goldberg a Signal invite to the chat - which tips it towards laughing.  

 

10 minutes ago, CharonY said:

That makes a lot of sense. A key element of this administration is to minimize transparency and accountability.

While having your lapDoge keeping claiming to being the great watchdog of transparency and accountability.  All very Orwellian.  As @MigL said, I keep wanting to wake up.

[CharonY]

8 minutes ago, TheVat said:

While having your lapDoge keeping claiming to being the great watchdog of transparency and accountability.  All very Orwellian.  As @MigL said, I keep wanting to wake up.

No, dude. Being woke is against the law.

[iNow]

34 minutes ago, CharonY said:

No, dude. Being woke is against the law.

Technically, it’s a mind virus 

 

[swansont]

2 hours ago, iNow said:

Well, unless of course they can lambaste Hillary Clinton with them bc she had a private email server that didn't leak. 

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/24/trump-advisers-war-plans-democrats-classified-information-00246432

 

Another element of this story which stands out to me is:

1. The Signal app auto deletes conversations within a few days or weeks based on OP settings. This is often one of the main reasons for using it

2. Communications of all administration officials are required to be archived as required by multiple federal laws

3. Both 1 & 2 cannot both occur 

The CIA director claimed that the info is recorded per government rules, and using signal is allowed under that stipulation (I don’r\t know if that’s correct) but I don't think that applies to classified or CUI. (I say: let’s see the record. Now, before anyone fiddles with it)

One of the senators chastised him for saying you can’t say this was unclassified but can’t reveal the content in the hearing - can’t have it both ways.

And Gabbard said something about war plans not being classified. LOl