An internal investigation into how The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg ended up among senior US officials in a closed Signal chat room has found that Siri, Apple’s personal assistant for iOS, may have been involved.
When National Security Advisor Mike Waltz invited Goldberg to a chat, he was actually trying to add a Trump representative who had Goldberg’s number in his contacts. According to The Verge, citing The Guardian, this happened because he approved Siri’s suggestion to update the contact.
According to sources briefed on the internal investigation, Goldberg emailed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign about a story criticizing Trump for his treatment of wounded service members. The campaign sought help from Volz, its national security spokesman, to refute the story, according to sources briefed on the internal investigation.
Goldberg’s email was forwarded to then-Trump spokesman Brian Hughes, who then copied and pasted the contents of the letter — including a signature block with The Atlantic editor’s phone number — into a text message he sent to Waltz to keep him updated.
According to the White House, the number was mistakenly saved during a «contact suggestions update» on Waltz’s iPhone. The insider described it as a feature where an algorithm adds a previously unknown number to an existing contact that may be related to it.
Siri can indeed make suggestions based on information like phone numbers it finds in a user’s text messages. This can be turned off in the iOS Settings app. But Siri shouldn’t have had the chance to get embroiled in a national security scandal in the first place.
According to the publication, the White House allowed officials to use Signal because «there is no alternative platform for real-time text exchange between different agencies.» However, Signal is a consumer product, like the iPhone or Siri, and not a secure solution for high-ranking government officials to discuss upcoming military strikes.
Recall that at the end of March, a serious information leak related to the Donald Trump administration occurred in the United States. An American journalist accidentally found himself in a Signal chat room where top officials were discussing an attack on military targets in Yemen. dev.ua investigated why such stories are happening more and more often and how high-level communication takes place in Ukraine.
Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike then mocked the military group chat leak. In his post, he ironically promoted Signal.
Amid this scandal, Signal downloads on the Apple Store and Google Play increased by 28% worldwide.
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Is war being waged in Signal chat? In the US, sometimes it is. What about in Ukraine?
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‘He’s truly the worst journalist ever.’ Trump adviser takes responsibility for appearing on The Atlantic editor’s closed Signal chat
‘He’s truly the worst journalist ever.’ Trump adviser takes responsibility for appearing on The Atlantic editor’s closed Signal chat
