Trump administration accidentally texted secret bombing plans to a reporter

"Shocking recklessness" in leak of detailed Yemen bombing plan to journalist.

See full article...

 

[Anti Jimmy]

Signal is not an authorized venue for sharing such information, and Waltz's use of a feature that makes messages disappear after a set period of time "raises questions about whether the officials may have violated federal records law," the article said.

TO be fair, this doesn't "raise questions" so much as "confirm blatant criminality that everyone already knew about."

 

[Tonkaman]

It's in the article, they use Signal to arrange meetings with reporters sometimes because it's more secure. Well, it's more secure if you're not a Trump administration yabo who can't keep track of all the people you need to invite to secret meetings.

The Trump Administration equivalent of "Is you taking notes on a criminal conspiracy?" from The Wire. Invited a stenographer to the secret meetings.

 

[LittleChicken]

Why do I get the feeling that with this administration a nuke launch will also be a directive sent via text message?

You give them too much credit - it is more likely to be via emoji.

 

[adamsc]

You're funny. This will lead to months of "Hillary's emails were much worse" coverage.

Anyone else remember what it was like here in 2016 when every thread was filled with self-ordained government IT policy experts saying that even though technically there wasn’t even a policy against it at the time, Clinton’s email server was a capital offense? I’m sure they’re going to be back just as soon as they can figure out how to express the absolutely incandescent rage they must surely have over this.

 

[Steven N]

"No, you're just being alarmist! That's unpossible! We have checks and balances!"

They could publicly mass murder a million people and the voters who stayed at home would just say the democrats are just as bad. All because they're insecure little shits that don't want to do their duty as citizens within a democracy.

If you willingly did not vote in 2024: you are a fascist. Period. You are the 1/3 of Nazi Germany that sat around saying Hitler "wasn't that bad" and saying "he'd never do THAT!"

I am SO fucking tired of lazy whiny little shits leeching off of citizens who actually give a shit. You do not get to live in democracy and not vote. If you abstain, you're both evil and a moron.


They are alive today in the United States and they are the ones who stayed home.

I had some German colleagues early in my career and (at least back then), they were deeply aware of what “they” were responsible for even though they weren’t even born when WW2 happened.
On the one end, I really hope US citizens never have to experience that, and on the other hand I really hope the Us citizens will ever reach that level of consciousness.

 

[Tonkaman]

This, along with the armed DOGE "raid" on the NGO US Institute for Peace would normally be something that traditional Conservatives would be up in arms about, with talks of impeachment.

But the current Republican wing won't even be bothered to raise a milquetoast statement of "national security" and "individual rights".

Hollywood wouldn't touch a plotline like that outside of a quick joke line and moving on. "Armed raid? At the Institute for PEACE?"

Even Hollywood isn't that on the nose usually.

 

[slinguu]

All I can say is that those with proper social media NEED to be complaining all across these other news sites' profiles and even the articles themselves if they have an easy-to-access commenting system.
Us sitting here on Ars and other sites that could be deemed left-leaning and complaining does nothing to tell other people how serious of an issue this is, nor to encourage those news sites to actually report on this without relying on weasel words. If some political Twitter accounts can be super annoying towards us, we should be annoying back. Flood them.

 

[Minimilian]

If the US still wants to invade Greenland, I suggest they do it while they still have the competence... other than that, I'll see you when you get to Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

 

[mozbo]

Conducting classified government business .... on Signal?

IIRC Signal is unable - by design - to abide by federal electronic-message record-keeping laws.

So how is this not flagrantly illegal?

 

[aleph_nought]

Holy shit, it gets worse. The Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Adviser, the VP, SecState, SecDef - all acting like Signal was a SCIF.

Fucking unbelievable. Discussing corporate secrets over FaceBook Messenger is a firing offense for most people but this gang of White House buffoons is getting away with so much more.

 

[Waco]

Conducting classified government business .... on Signal?

IIRC Signal is unable - by design - to abide by federal electronic-message record-keeping laws.

So how is this not flagrantly illegal?

It is. They don't care.

 

[Kergonath]

But yeah, it's still well past time that Europe - whose combined economy easily rivals America's - to start taking care of its own business. In this, at least, the Trump regime is right: much like a broken clock.

I broadly agree with your comment, but I must point out that this is exceptionally short-sighted and not in the interests of the US. Under the previous arrangement, Europe was defanged and no threat to the US (or to almost anybody, to be honest), while still sending billions of dollars across the Atlantic to buy military hardware and supporting the US in almost all of their ventures across the globe. What this change is doing is completely counter-productive in the long term from an American point of view.

 

[Rhutanium]

I’d say ‘they’ -but we all know it’s the Armed Forces- that got lucky, that they added someone who understands confidentiality and protecting sources.

There won’t be any consequences for the cabal of idiots.

 

[caramelpolice]

I broadly agree with your comment, but I must point out that this is exceptionally short-sighted and not in the interests of the US... What this change is doing is completely counter-productive in the long term from an American point of view.

So, just like everything else these fuckheads are doing.

 

[Swarley]

Man, I was expecting to see a comments section full of collapsed comments downvoted into oblivion. I guess even the MAGA trolls and sock puppets can't think of a way to spin this clown show anymore.

 

[clackerd]

Fucking incompetent amateurs all over again, just like everyone outside the Maga kool-aid station knew would happen. Make Smoothbrains Wrinkly Again

 

[imchillyb]

Trump administration accidentally texted secret bombing plans to a reporter​

No! No-no-no!!!

This administration is violating and avoiding federal record keeping laws...

This administration is violating and avoiding federal record keeping laws by using Telegraph, Signal, Messenger, or any other app instead of the record keeping procedures and processes put in place for the US Citizenry and the other US Federal Agencies to curtail illegal behaviors.

What this administration is doing violates so many laws that this rhetoric headline is bullshit.

You hear me ARS? This headline is propaganda bullshit, and you fucking well know it.

 

[mozbo]

This the Trump administration. Charlie code would be: 8008135

0x00000028

CORRUPT_ACCESS_TOKEN

 

[djgrowers]

Autocomplete's a bummer. Wierd Jeff Goldberg isn't anything like the actual intended participant Elon Musk....

 

[Frodo Douchebaggins]

What a pack of fucking hypocrite moron fucktards

 

[Frodo Douchebaggins]

 

[Don Reba]

Canadian here. I'm taking all measures possible to avoid the United States, its products and services.

One could argue that Ars is a United States product.

Acquired in 2008 by Advance, the parent company of Condé Nast, Ars Technica has offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

 

[balthazarr]

Every accusation, a confession - needs updating, because when they accuse a Democrat of something, like "hER eMAilS!!11!1!1", they're invariably doing something orders of magnitude more shady, more reckless, more inept.

 

[Freedom-MD]

What did you expect with Trump's selection of incompetent cabinet and advisors. They're all dumb, erratic and incompetent (DEI) hires.

 

[Senti]

nothing will be done and it's strange that the promises of less global invasion during the campaign turn out to be just moving the aggression point elsewhere

 

[Another Opinionated User]

I was very sorry to hear about Golberg falling out a window next week.

These cosplayers are the real National Security risk. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks in our military decided they should all meet with an unfortunate accident.

 

[LeftCoastRusty]

Not only hate-filled bastards, but as incompetent as fuck.

The one sentence description of the Trump administration ( and clown prince Elon), as well as much of the MAGA movement. It

 

[mattcoz]

Of course it was reckless
Of course it violated records laws

And of course nothing will be done about it /s

Wait... what part is sarcasm?

 

[trashcanman]

Now imagine being the grunt about to launch on a mission, wondering if Secretary Shitfaced has exposed your op after his phone gets lifted while he’s drunk in a Capitol Hill bar.

 

[mattcoz]

Insane that this breach of security was committed by the national security advisor.

 

[mode1charlie]

Aside from, you know - the fact that this was a major breach of national security that puts American soldiers' lives at risk - I welcome the full public display of the Trump Administration's total incompetence. The people need to know.

 

[passivesmoking]

They've probably already put all the schematics for your nukes on the pirate bay too.

 

[DrewW]

The Trump Administration equivalent of "Is you taking notes on a criminal conspiracy?" from The Wire. Invited a stenographer to the secret meetings.

11:40pm u up? Got a big secret

11:41pm Sersly, gonna bomb Yemen. Gonna be lit. Txt

11:41pm Big T says you should facetime. Anybody home?

11:42pm Is this Maggie Haberman? POTUS said it was.

11:43pm Uf you aren’t Maggie H, delete these texts or you go to jail

11:44pm This is actually Ashton Kutcher! You got Punk’d! Ha ha ha

 

[J.C. Helios]

They were just reporting the other day some big investigation by the Pentagon into leaked details of Musk's intelligence briefing or whatever.

Now Fox has nothing to say about this, and Trump is being quiet. What a shocker. Now we watch as they explain why an investigation into this is not necessary and that it was actually a Democrat's fault.

That was a scary moment: The New York Times reported that Musk was going to be briefed on the US's war contingency plans with China!

Having a person (cough,lunatic) who has said that Taiwan should be ruled by China and who was willing to cynically pledge himself to China's "core socialist values" know those plans could have been catastrophic. Whoever leaked that to the Times and (supposedly) stopped it from happening deserves a medal, but instead they're going to get polygraphed along with their colleagues.

 

[MadMaximus]

Maybe they mistook him for someone who worked for a Russian news agency.

 

[Juanvaldes]

I guess this is what happens when the Secretary of Defense is a DUI hire

At first I read that as DWI hire.

 

[cgo_12345]

Man, I was expecting to see a comments section full of collapsed comments downvoted into oblivion. I guess even the MAGA trolls and sock puppets can't think of a way to spin this clown show anymore.

They haven't been told why this is actually a good thing yet. Give them a few more hours to get their marching orders.

 

[fractl]

He might come down with a case of Russian Falling Syndrome

Russian windows, stairwells and balconies seem very dangerous...

 

[crepuscularbrolly]

Donnie's response: “I don’t know anything about it …”


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47zSrKOxBT4

 

[Uncivil Servant]

I'm pretty sure that even Wilhelm II had a cabinet capable of being slightly less incompetent.