US President Donald Trump said national security adviser Mike Waltz is doing his best and would not be using the Signal app in the near future
AGENCY
washington, Mar 26
US President Donald Trump has come to the rescue of an embattled Mike Waltz, the national security adviser who admitted to have created the secret Signal chat group, which was accessed by a journalist. Trump’s officials then reportedly revealed the US plans to attack the Houthis in Yemen hours before the airstrikes.
Talking about Waltz, Trump said, “I don’t think he should apologise. I think he’s doing his best… Probably he won’t be using it again, at least not in the very near future.”
This comes after Waltz called the situation “embarrassing” and took “full responsibility”. However, Waltz said he did not have the contact information of Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg and does not know how he was added into the chat. “And we’re going to figure out how this happened,” Waltz told Fox News.
Goldberg had claimed in his article on Monday that an account with Waltz’s name had added him to the secret Signal chat earlier this month. He said that days later, an account with name of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed the plans to attack the Houthis, including the information about the targets and the timing.
Besides Waltz, accounts with the names of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff were also in the chat.
Did Trump officials ignore warning about Signal app?
The National Security Agency, an arm of the Defense Department, had in February warned its employees against using Signal. The internal bulletin says the Signal app is often targeted by Russian professional hacking groups to access encrypted conversations, according to CBS News.
Ratcliffe who appeared before a Senate panel said Signal is allowed for communication and coordination for work purposes. Also, Gabbard told the Senate panel that there was no classified material in the Signal chat in question.
However, the NSA bulletin says that third-party apps like Signal and WhatsApp should not be used for sharing even “unclassified, non-public” information.
