A major leak of information related to the Donald Trump administration has occurred in the US. An American journalist accidentally found himself in a Signal chat room where top officials were discussing an attack on military targets in Yemen. Why are such stories happening more and more often? And how does high-level communication take place in Ukraine?
A major leak of information related to the Donald Trump administration has occurred in the US. An American journalist accidentally found himself in a Signal chat room where top officials were discussing an attack on military targets in Yemen. Why are such stories happening more and more often? And how does high-level communication take place in Ukraine?
We learned interesting details.
On March 15, 2025, journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic allegedly stumbled upon a group chat on the Signal app called the “ Houthi PC small group .» The chat included senior US officials, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Vice President J.D. Vance, discussing military operations against targets in Yemen.
Chat messages contained sensitive information about weapons, targets, and the timing of attacks.
When Goldberg received these messages, he initially doubted their veracity. He even thought it might be a random mistake or a joke.
«However, I knew two hours before the first bombs went off that an attack was possible. The reason I knew this is because Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, sent me a text message about the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan contained precise information about weapon kits, targets, and timing,» the journalist wrote .
It is important to understand that while Signal provides end-to-end encryption, it is not accredited to handle classified government communications, which could lead to information leaks to foreign intelligence agencies and others. Sometimes, it is just random «people on the street.»
Trump told reporters at the White House that he was unaware of the incident. «I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic,» Trump said. A White House spokesman later said that the investigation was ongoing and that Trump had been briefed on it.
A statement from a US National Security Council spokesperson: «At this time , the message that was reported appears to be genuine, and we are investigating how the unintentional number was added to the chain.»
At the same time, Defense Minister Hegset denied that war plans were discussed via text messages.
«Nobody sent any text messages about military plans, and that’s all I have to say about it,» Hegset told reporters when asked why those details were accidentally shared with Goldberg after landing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.
The defense minister also criticized the journalist, whom he called «lying and severely discredited.»
In principle, high-ranking American officials have already been involved in such scandals. For example, in 2021 it was revealed that the former Pentagon tech boss could also use Signal to communicate with employees and other officials of the Ministry of Defense to discuss official information of the department.
Signal, favored by Elon Musk, journalists, and foreign dissidents, has recently become a favorite among federal government employees, DOGE, and military planners, The Washington Post reports .
According to the publication, which spoke with more than two dozen government officials, two months into the Trump administration, dramatic changes are taking place in Washington as federal employees — and some senior administration officials — move their correspondence to Signal in an effort to maintain secrecy.
So they don’t trust Trump?
Typically, the federal government requires officials to personally handle highly classified information, leaving personal cell phones and other electronic devices outside of secure rooms where confidential meetings take place, said Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-Rhode Island), a member of the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection.
Facilities with these rooms — called confidential information facilities, or SCIFs — are designed to prevent intruders from eavesdropping on what is being discussed. Information presented during SCIF meetings is usually printed out and stored securely.
If an official is physically unable to be at a secure facility, the government uses secure communication channels that can be used instead. «But Signal is not one of those systems,» said a member of the cybersecurity subcommittee.
The proposed scheme with secret rooms and protected communication channels hardly seems convenient now, when there are messengers like Signal: create a group on the couch, add friends, and off you go. But the issue of cybersecurity versus convenience, of course, remains.
Signal fever has not bypassed Ukrainian high-ranking officials. When asked what messenger the representatives of the National Security and Defense Council and the General Staff use, one of the Verkhovna Rada deputies, who wished to remain anonymous, answered dev.ua succinctly: «Signal.»
«I know of cases where the accounts of our generals were hacked,» our interlocutor added.
According to him, an order has now been issued for all military personnel to switch to Whatsapp. He did not specify why.
«Not all messengers are anonymous,» Serhiy Demedyuk, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said in an interview with dev.ua last year, answering a question about which messengers Ukrainians should use.
«We should trust messengers from countries we trust. If the United States is our partner and helps, then, of course, it is better to use their products. At least we will be absolutely sure that it will not transfer this data to the enemy,» he said at the time.
I wonder if Serhiy Demediuk has changed his mind now?
It should be recalled here that very recently, a representative of the National Security and Defense Council accused Signal of inaction in the face of Russian cyber threats, which complicates the fight against enemy attacks.
One of the key security threats, according to NSDC representatives, was Signal’s refusal to cooperate with law enforcement agencies. After the arrest of Pavel Durov in Paris, the Telegram messenger began to cooperate with states for more open interaction with law enforcement agencies, which forced Russian cybercriminals to switch to Signal.
