In the aftermath of a journalist being included in what was supposed to be a private group chat involving high-level Trump administration officials, the fallout from the scandal has left many wondering why sensitive national security information is being shared on a messaging app like Signal.
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Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute, told Scripps News that while Signal is encrypted and used by many people in Washington D.C., he is left wondering why government officials don't use more secure paths to communication.
"Why doesn't the government have a [Sensitive Compartmented Information] rated version of this?" Jaffer questioned. "And if they don't, what do they expect people to do other than use this capability if they're going to put it on their systems? They tell them don't use it for these purposes, but you're there operating in real time."
The controversy stems from an article published this week by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, who came out as the journalist who was "accidentally" added to that Signal group chat. Goldberg explained that's why he knew hours before it actually happened that the U.S. was planning to strike Houthi militants in Yemen earlier this month — and shared screenshots of the group chat to prove it.
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National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has since admitted to mistakenly including the Atlantic's editor-in-chief in the chat, taking responsibility for the error.
However, the entire revelation has brought a wave of criticism against other top Trump administration officials involved in the group chat as well — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, and others — over how sensitive information is communicated.
Some former national security officials have stated unequivocally that the contents of the chat were classified, although Trump administration officials continue to deny those claims.
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Jaffer, meanwhile, considered there may be another reason why government officials were using Signal instead of something more secure to communicate sensitive information.
"You know what's interesting," he told Scripps News, "... You've got all of these senior government officials on [Signal], not one said 'hey, should we be using this other government app, you know, X-chat or whatever?' Probably because either there isn't one or it's so terrible it's unusable."
Watch Scripps News' full conversation with Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National Security Institute, in the video player above.
