Hegseth is the classic example of why loyalty and weekend-host-on-Fox-News aren't sufficient qualifiers for a very important position in government. Fortunately, he's only like, what, fifth in line for the Presidency?

DiabloWags said:

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We all knew something like this would happen. Incompetence comes with hiring people who are not fit for the job.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the texts, telling reporters in Hawaii: "You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again."

"This is a guy who peddles in garbage," he continued, adding, "Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say."

How Pete Hegseth Signal Group Chat Reacted to War Plans Leak - Newsweek

President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday in response to a question about the incident:

"I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. I think it's not much of a magazine. But I know nothing about it ... You're telling me about it for the first time."

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe getting DRILLED by Senator Mark Warner:

Trump admin live updates: Intel officials testify amid Yemen chat fallout - ABC News

"If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired," Warner said.

"This is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information -- that this is not a one-off or a first time error," Warner said of the Trump administration.

Under intense questioning by Senator Mark Warner (that Gabbard was evasive and not answering), she finally claimed that there was no "classified" information shared in the group chat . . . once John Ratcliffe stated that he was part of the group chat and had not shared any "classified" military information.

Warner repeatedly asked, "If there was no classified information in the group chat, then why not release the text messages to the Committee?"

Neither Gabbard or Ratcliffe had an answer.

Big C said:

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Hegseth is the classic example of why loyalty and weekend-host-on-Fox-News aren't sufficient qualifiers for a very important position in government. Fortunately, he's only like, what, fifth in line for the Presidency?

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The good news for Trump's enemies is that the Justice Department is just as incompetent. Bondi may Bark loud in sound bites, but for a DOJ to Bite, you have to have prosecutors with brains and jury trial experience…..and those types either took the last bus out of town or will refuse assignments because there is no probable cause and they don't want to lose their law licenses like many in the Trump I lawyer stable did.

Don Bacon says Russia, China likely saw war plans group chat


https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5212231-russian-chinese-monitoring-us-devices/


Screenshot: CNN

Flashback to 2017, when @TheAtlantic called Signal “the gold standard of encrypted messaging” — and admitted it was used by Obama and Hillary Clinton staffers. pic.twitter.com/jfKyBsJJ7K

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 26, 2025

More "whataboutism" and stupid conflation by people on Twitter that lack basic 6th grade reading comprehension skills.

CLASSIFIED MILITARY INTELLIGENCE WAS SHARED ON A PLATFORM THAT HAS VULNERABILITIES.

PS. The claim that Signal remains the "gold standard for private, secure communications" came from Signal itself.
Duh.


Signal says it is 'gold standard' for encrypted messaging, despite claims of vulnerabilities

Days after the Signal leak, the Pentagon warned the app was the target of hackers : NPR

DiabloWags said:

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Under intense questioning by Senator Mark Warner (that Gabbard was evasive and not answering), she finally claimed that there was no "classified" information shared in the group chat . . . once John Ratcliffe stated that he was part of the group chat and had not shared any "classified" military information.

Warner repeatedly asked, "If there was no classified information in the group chat, then why not release the text messages to the Committee?"

Neither Gabbard or Ratcliffe had an answer.

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I saw the news clips last night.
They were just like children who knew they had done wrong and were called into the Principal's office for a scolding. They tried to handle it as best they could, in the Trump way.

But what donned on me... I heard that The Atlantic journalist announced his presence on the group Signal Chat and then immediately announced his departure from the group chat. That made me laugh hard, because the thought of everyone else reading that message was like a bombshell where their hair stood on end - NO DOUBT!

So, when they appeared yesterday, they knew they were going to be facing the fire for a lot longer than just since The Atlantic news story broke day before. They've been sitting on their own piles of 5hit that they made in their pants. And that makes me laugh! The panic. You could see it in Tulsi's face. Just flat. Scared. Resigned to the fact that, "yes, I'm going to do my best to stall and deny and evade and avoid the truth. And when you scold me, I have no energy to respond in any way."

If it were Trump, and this is his magic way, he would have been firing back over and over and over in a way that would stun his accusers. But he is particularly evil, and there is only one Trump.

In the 90's I worked at a company that had installed a messaging system where you could type a person's name and then Tab and then you got 2 lines of text. It allowed for fast 2 way messaging back and forth. But when you got into that back and forth with someone you had to type their name over and over and over, message after message.

One time a coworker was telling me gossip about how another 2 coworker men had gone out on a date together. I was like "WHAT?" (shock)
I was young, and we (societally) were still very much in the dark that people could be gay.
So there was lots of rapid fire back and forth on this messaging app between me and this other coworker who was explaining this to me.

In doing so, I accidentally typed the name of the person we were gossiping about in the "To" field, and then sent, "What do you mean he actually asked him out?"

The gay guy (who was my trainer and I was friends with) wrote back to me, "Huh?"

I then realized my error and my face turned bright red in my cubicle. My hair stood on end. I slumped in my chair.
I made up some lame excuse hours later which I'm sure were completely transparent/fake/didn't work.

I've never forgotten the need to be much better, in several ways. Lesson learned.

For these GOP Signal Users, I am ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that they've become so desensitized to communicating this way that they don't even think twice about it. They ALL probably are communicating via this channel, which has no archival tool, so they can't be subpeonaed. Once someone gets used to something, like a crime, it becomes commonplace, they get sloppy, and they eventually blow it.

Will America enact tougher laws to stop people from going outside the official channels (by firing them ALL) or will people just learn that you have to be more careful when you cheat?

I say, America is going to continue to cheat, just be more careful. However, the downside is this moral decay only leads to greater corruption. The house of cards falls more spectacularly, and that's one of the reasons for my Goodbye to the US Dollar thread. We do not have our house in order. Trump is exhibit A1, but there are many many many many more examples of it. $35T at last count.

Damn these DEI hires are outstanding

Pocahontas Says Yes said:

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And it is the gold standard for encrypted messaging. Highly unlikely that the government has its own proprietary messaging app that works better.

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Yeah buddy.

It's such a GOLD STANDARD that CONGRESS isn't even allowed to use it.
They have to use a SCIF.

SCIF = Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility

Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility Use (SCIF) Policy | GSA

What's good for the goose . . .

Pete Hegseth's 5 things email to Musk this week is gonna be lit

— Cling 2 Reality (@Cling2Reality) March 25, 2025

Lolz

"I just want to thank Pete Hegseth for proving my theory that when your entire personality is "minorities are incompetent," it's usually because you're more incompetent than anyone could have imagined."

Kegseth really screwed the pooch on this one.

DiabloWags said:

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Pocahontas Says Yes said:

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And it is the gold standard for encrypted messaging. Highly unlikely that the government has its own proprietary messaging app that works better.

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Yeah buddy.

It's such a GOLD STANDARD that CONGRESS isn't even allowed to use it.
They have to use a SCIF.

SCIF = Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility

Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility Use (SCIF) Policy | GSA

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I do have access and control to some sensitive CUI, though not anywhere near as sensitive as war plans. I have to take yearly trading to remind me not to reveal this information to others except as needed and to do so through secure means. They stress never using messenger apps. I'd be fired or at least severely reprimanded if I was caught using Signal or some other app to pass along information.

I did find it telling that Gabbard and someone else whose name escapes me admitted in testimony that they hadn't read up on the security requirements they were expected to follow in their new positions. Gabbard is ex military. I can't believe she hadn't been told over and over while she was in active duty about handling sensitive information securely.

Eastern Oregon Bear said:

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DiabloWags said:

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Pocahontas Says Yes said:

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And it is the gold standard for encrypted messaging. Highly unlikely that the government has its own proprietary messaging app that works better.

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Yeah buddy.

It's such a GOLD STANDARD that CONGRESS isn't even allowed to use it.
They have to use a SCIF.

SCIF = Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility

Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility Use (SCIF) Policy | GSA

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I do have access and control to some sensitive CUI, though not anywhere near as sensitive as war plans. I have to take yearly trading to remind me not to reveal this information to others except as needed and to do so through secure means. They stress never using messenger apps. I'd be fired or at least severely reprimanded if I was caught using Signal or some other app to pass along information.

I did find it telling that Gabbard and someone else whose name escapes me admitted in testimony that they hadn't read up on the security requirements they were expected to follow in their new positions. Gabbard is ex military. I can't believe she hadn't been told over and over while she was in active duty about handling sensitive information securely.

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You could see it in their faces. They knew.

The way these things go is someone with presumed social authority sets the tone and others follow.

I imagine that person is Trump. He doesn't want anything archived. He burns notes and flushes them down the toilet. He sanctioned the use of Signal and they've probably been using it long time.

Trump's legacy of loose lips hangs over Signal scandal

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/26/trump-signal-classified-information

MinotStateBeav said:

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Flashback to 2017, when @TheAtlantic called Signal “the gold standard of encrypted messaging” — and admitted it was used by Obama and Hillary Clinton staffers. pic.twitter.com/jfKyBsJJ7K

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 26, 2025

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Saying that Signal was secure in 2017 is ancient history in the tech world. Nothing changes faster than issues around security and data encryption.

HearstMining said:

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MinotStateBeav said:

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Flashback to 2017, when @TheAtlantic called Signal “the gold standard of encrypted messaging” — and admitted it was used by Obama and Hillary Clinton staffers. pic.twitter.com/jfKyBsJJ7K

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 26, 2025

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Saying that Signal was secure in 2017 is ancient history in the tech world. Nothing changes faster than issues around security and data encryption.

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That may be true, but every federal staffer and congress person is using it right now.

MinotStateBeav said:

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HearstMining said:

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MinotStateBeav said:

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Flashback to 2017, when @TheAtlantic called Signal “the gold standard of encrypted messaging” — and admitted it was used by Obama and Hillary Clinton staffers. pic.twitter.com/jfKyBsJJ7K

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 26, 2025

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Saying that Signal was secure in 2017 is ancient history in the tech world. Nothing changes faster than issues around security and data encryption.

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That may be true, but every federal staffer and congress person is using it right now.

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I have NEVER used Signal at my federal job (or privately either). Nobody I work with has EVER used Signal in an official capacity. We have been specifically told for years to NEVER use a messenger app for official business. As Signal messages disappear after a short time, Signal violates the record keeping requirements for having a record of actions taken and the discussions ahead of time.

MinotStateBeav said:

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That may be true, but every federal staffer and congress person is using it right now.

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Another cool story.
Congress does NOT USE SIGNAL.

In fact, a Congressman said on CNN yesterday that the reason you never hear about any of these kinds of "screw-ups" is because Congress is only able to use a SCIF.

Nothing else.