When Mike Waltz carelessly added an Atlantic editor to his classified military group chat on the Signal app last month, the Trump Administration brushed it off as a one-time blunder that wouldn't happen again. But as it turns out, the sloppy national security advisor has used the same texting app for at least 20 other sensitive discussions, according to new reports.
"It was commonplace to stand up chats on any given national security topic," said one of four people who spoke to Politico, while another added, "Waltz built the entire NSC communications process on Signal."
The four anonymous sources who spoke to Politico had all been added to Signal group chats with Trump's national security team in which sensitive, if not classified, information was discussed. From Politico:
National security adviser Mike Waltz's team regularly set up chats on Signal to coordinate official work on issues including Ukraine, China, Gaza, Middle East policy, Africa and Europe, according to four people who have been personally added to Signal chats.
It's a more extensive use of the app than previously reported and sheds new light on how commonly the Trump administration's national security team relies on Signal, a publicly available messaging app, to conduct its work. …
Veteran national security officials have warned the practice potentially violates regulations on protecting sensitive national security information from foreign adversaries, and federal recordkeeping laws if the chats are automatically deleted. …
Waltz and incoming NSC staff first started using Signal prolifically during the transition period before the inauguration and never stopped, according to another one of the four people who participated in the chats.
"This is a bunch of folks who have never been here before and couldn't switch from campaign mode," a former Trump official told Politico, referring to Waltz, Fox host-turned-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and the rest of the inexperienced Trump 2.0 yes-men now running the U.S. military.
Using Signal as a military communication tool "raises immediate and deeply alarming concerns about the misuse of unsecured communication platforms," said Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, calling Waltz's group chats "the reckless dissemination of potentially classified material."
Previously: The Atlantic posts details of attack plans shared on Signal
