Action 80 – Leave the “Signalgate” Open
Background – In February, the National Security Agency issued a warning that “Russian professional hacking groups are employing the ‘linked devices’ feature (of the Signal app) to spy on encrypted conversations...The hacking groups embed malicious QR codes in phishing pages or conceal them in group invite links. After gaining access via the malicious code, the groups add their own devices as a linked device. This allows the group to view every message sent by the unwitting user in real time, bypassing the end-to-end encryption.” Hegseth, Gabbard, Waltz and the others knew this. German reporters easily found personal contact data including phone numbers for these people online. One of the people in the group, Steve Witkoff, was physically in Moscow during the conversation.
It doesn’t take a genius to surmise that the entire exercise was readily available to Russian intelligence sources. Malcolm Nance, a U.S. intelligence analyst, has described how our own intelligence services could easily have hacked into the Signal discussions, and the Russian intelligence services have equal capabilities to do the same thing. So, it’s quite likely that they had a front row seat to the entire proceedings. The infected phones have possibly already spread the malicious codes elsewhere.
What is going on here? Was this a purposeful “leak”? Did we know that the rebel targets would not receive intelligence from Russia that would allow them to take evasive action? Was the real purpose of the sloppy security to cozy up to Putin and drag the United States further into the orbit of the authoritarian regimes and away from our allies in democratic nations? What did Trump know and when did he know it? Will four of the “five eyes” ever share signals intelligence with the United States again? Intelligence professionals’ view of Russia “is shaped by Cold War history, Russian espionage operations, and countless case studies reinforcing the risks of cooperation.” Putin is not a fan of democracy, but he is likely a fan of blackmail. Our entire intelligence apparatus is possibly compromised at the top.
Today, Judge Boasberg ordered that Hegseth, Rubio, Bessent, Ratcliffe and Gabbard (and maybe others?) preserve all Signal messages exchanged between 11-15 March. Signal messages are sent encrypted so they can’t be read during transmission, and they are set to self-destruct after a period of time, making them a good vehicle for the destruction of official records which, by law, are to be preserved!
Action: Call Senators King and Collins. (They both serve on the intelligence committee.) Ask them at a minimum to hold hearings until all facets of this scandal are known to the public. If you are not eager to see the United States become a failed democracy, tell them you are counting on them to stop the ongoing mad descent into an authoritarian state like Putin’s Russia or Orban’s Hungary.
Contact:
Senator Susan Collins: Email: www.collins.senate.gov/contact/email-senator-collins/form
Phone: (202) 224-2523 (DC office), (207) 945-0417 (Bangor office)
Senator Angus King: Email www.king.senate.gov/contact
Phone: (202) 224-5344 (DC office), (207) 945-8000 (Bangor office)
Extra Credit:
>https://san.com/cc/pentagon-issued-signal-warning-before-war-group-chat-leak-report/
>https://www.justsecurity.org/109299/intelligence-us-realignment-russia/
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Nance
>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-envoy-steve-witkoff-signal-text-group-chat-russia-putin/
> https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/25/signalgate-trump-leak-goldberg-yemen-questions/