31 March 2025

Signal leak sparks new calls for modernized messaging options from defense officials

Brandi Vincent

Officials are calling for accountability, clearer policies, and more access to modern platforms that military and government insiders can trust for real-time communications about classified activities, after some of the Trump administration’s top national security leaders shared high-stakes military operational plans in a group chat with an American reporter.

In interviews this week, DefenseScoop spoke to current and former defense officials — many who requested anonymity to speak freely — about the incident revealed by the Atlantic magazine’s editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was included in a message chain earlier this month on the encrypted but unclassified messaging app Signal, where some of the president’s closest advisers discussed forthcoming strikes targeting Houthi militants in Yemen.

“This, of course, is a political hot potato — because both sides are going after each other. But I want to move beyond the politics and say, let’s acknowledge the gravity of this,” a former senior defense official said in reference to the implications of classified plans being shared on Signal.


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