Cybersecurity experts said they were surprised to learn conversations containing sensitive materials, including plans for airstrikes, were taking place on Signal as reported Monday by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
The story was “very mind-blowing,” said JP Castellanos, the director of threat intelligence for Binary Defense. He previously served in U.S. Central Command's (USCENTCOM) Cyber Security Division.
Goldberg, a long-time foreign affairs correspondent, published a story Monday claiming he was invited to a group chat on Signal earlier this month by national security adviser Mike Waltz.
According to Goldberg, top officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President Vance discussed plans for airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen hours before they were launched.
The National Security Council confirmed the message chain was authentic, adding it is investigating how Goldberg was included in the chat. The White House attempted to downplay the situation Tuesday, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt maintaining no “war plans” were discussed in the chat.
Leavitt said the White House Counsel’s Office has “provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and as efficiently as possible.”
During his time at the Defense Department, Castellanos said the agency conducted multiple rounds of testing applications to ensure it is shielded from any foreign adversaries’ hacking attempts.
“It’s a very long, arduous process,” Castellanos explained.
It is not clear whether Signal was on the list of approved platforms, or whether the officials used the messaging service on official government phones or laptops.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe confirmed Tuesday he was on the group chat and told a Senate committee on that Signal was loaded onto his work computer, "as it is for most CIA officers.”
“One of the things that I was briefed on very early, senator, was by the CIA records management folks about the use of Signal as a permissible work use,” Ratcliffe said during a previously scheduled Intelligence Committee hearing.
He appeared beside Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence and another reported member of the chat who declined to answer many questions.
