To every veteran and aerospace engineer who honored the classification of information, this incident and likely prior ones, is horrendous and criminal.

Violators are immediately arrested and charged. I hate to see top-level exceptions to both record-keeping and mishandling of classified information. That's where they do the most damage.

As others have noted, the flaw in using Signal on consumer phones is due to vulnerabilities in the phone itself. And it was wrong to use consumer phones.

That said, I was recommending Signal to friends in order to have online discussions, using the conferencing feature, since it is cross-platform and cross-device. However, one friend lost their Apple login and can't install software on their phone. I sent a very long explainer on how to reset it.

Guess I'll try face-time conferencing, which works on Apple Devices [0] and will work with others via web [1]. Requires ios 15 or Monterey to initiate.

We have been using free, limited, zoom sessions.

[0] https://support.apple.com/en-us/111767 [1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/109364

I read this as you suggesting that signal is somehow at fault here?

If I'm getting that wrong, ignore me, if I'm not, could you expand that? I don't follow how signal did anything wrong here, or was in any way responsible.

> We have been using free, limited, zoom sessions.

How secure are those?

yeah, I mean if you can accidentally added to group chats where you can obtain classified information...

I think this is also due to Skype announcing it's shutting down.

Exactly. That has driven me and several colleagues to Signal.

Plus, you never know when a MAGA will share incriminating info with you. Extra bonus!

Finally, a positive form of Streisand Effect!!!

Probably because people are realizing that it has the auto-delete feature that the Whitehouse is DEFINITELY not relying on in having senior staff communicate on this platform.

> that the Whitehouse is DEFINITELY not relying on

No need to speculate; The Atlantic has the deets.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/signal-...

From the first screenshot: "Disappearing message time was set to 1 week."

I think GP means "relying on" in the "avoiding official record keeping" sense rather than the feature being used literally. You could explain away the latter as a bug or accident, BUT given the brazen corruption of this admin, they're probably using it intentionally to skirt existing laws or procedures.

Disappointed to see that even Wired is falling into the frame of the scandal being the accidental inclusion of a member of the public in a sensitive chat. Once again, Wired, the scandal is that the VP and the members of the cabinet are categorically forbidden from using Signal for any reason.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say these people were acting like they were picked by a convicted felon who acts like he's above the law, mainly because his experience tells him that he is.

All the inconvenient rules that make the low level employees less efficient don't apply to the upper ranks. That allows them to complain about their employees.

Can't it be both?

AFAIK they can use it for stuff they're not legally required to keep records on.

... which very much does not include most of the contents of the exchanges in question.