Experts say Pentagon chief has endangered secrets of US defense department and given assistance to foreign spies
As more develops about the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and his repeated disclosures of sensitive military intelligence in unsecured Signal group chats, there are growing concerns his behavior has weakened the Pentagon in the eyes of its foreign adversaries and made him and his entourage a top espionage target.
Allies, already concerned by Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs, have also begun to see the US as an intelligence-sharing liability. There are fears that the mounting firings and leak inquiries in Hegseth’s orbit, along with his inability to manage these internal crises, exposes the entire global US war footing – especially, if a geopolitical and external crisis comes across his desk.
“[What if] a foreign entity, whether it be a state actor or non-state actor, is able to intercept the movements of troops or department personnel, or something like that, capture them and hold them to ransom,” said Kristofer Goldsmith, an Iraq war veteran and CEO at Task Force Butler. “That kind of thing could very easily happen.”
Experts eating at roach infested e coli laboratory masquerading as a restaurant have this to say: I saw Pete handle food without gloves. It doesn’t inspire confidence in the establishment.
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That’s not an exploit, that is a known and published and advertised feature of signal. That’s like when Grandma says her Facebook was hacked because she gave her username and password to MichaelSoft tech support. This is the level of profound fucking stupid that our Republican government has.
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That’s not a Signal weakness. That’s profound user idiocy. It’s very clear what the “link a device” feature is for, and obviously linking someone else’s device would be very dumb.
if only there was a government agency, perhaps one tasked with national security even… that could provide the secure devices and software needed for high-ranking government workers and others working with sensitive information… and those workers actually used that gear and followed their training and policies.
The other glaring weakness is that if you invite Putin to your group chat, Russia gets access to all of your messages!! /s (though, I guess it’s a real threat with this administration)
psst . . . starlink.
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you mean show who’s in the chat?
I think they mean it should remind you which other devices you have linked, so that if you’re messaging on your phone you are reminded that your computer will also get a copy of the chat unless you unlink it.
It’s secure messaging for the average joe. Organizations can achieve this compliance with an MDM, but I’m not asking Grandma to install my MDM on her phone to see my Wordle results. And sharing your device list (plus, you’d likely need ip location for this feature to be useful, in addition to interrogating your friends about what devices they use) with any random person you’re messaging is arguably more of a security threat than the risk of some moron linking any random device that asks to be linked.
That would be a helpful addition, and it sounds like it could be easily done.
is ‘espionage’ a new whisky distillery? Then he is def a big target.
Signal leak Pete is a pretty good nickname
Leaky Pete!
DrinkiLeaks
Whiskeyleaks
Even if they do get rid of him, won’t he be a vulnerability for years to come? Because of the position he was given, certainly not earned, he is privy to not only the details of current military strikes but also secret goals for future military projects. Right? I assume most people who have these jobs have a modicum of self-respect and patriotic duty. But couldn’t he just leak that important info to anyone even after he is fired?
Earlier in the week, news broke that Hegseth had personally created a Signal group chat including his wife, brother and about a dozen other people who he then texted highly sensitive information on active strikes in Yemen… One person said Russian and Chinese spies were no doubt directly targeting susceptible people in Hegseth’s inner circle.
Even if, as I am sure he very wrongly does, Hegseth believes himself morally beyond reproach and too smart to be tricked, does he honestly think every single person in his circle and in their circles is as well? JFC.
I’m sure everyone in his circle are all using highly secure mobile devices not linked to their personal identities, on the latest software updates and would never be duped by a phishing link or be the target of a zero click exploit by a state actor.
Target, he’s the eye of the bull.
Oh hey ya think? Is this kind of deductive reasoning what a masters degree at an ivy league school gets you? Man I wish I could be smart enough to figure that out.
I assumed it’s all part of the plan. He’s not going to face any consequences and the info is available to whoever wants it.
unsecured Signal group chats
As inappropriate, stupid and reckless as whisky Pete has been it’s not like he was using Facebook PMs or Twitter. Signal is quite secure in general.
Signal encryption is already targeted by Russians and Belarusians trying to compromise it. If it’s still secure, who knows for how long. Also, is Hegseth’s phone itself secure, and everyone has communicating with? Probably not. That is why these kinds of communications are not meant to take place over 3rd party software and on unsecured phones.
Signal encryption is already targeted by Russians and Belarusians trying to compromise it
So what? So is the NSA and everyone else in the world? You have no evidence that the could or have compromised it at all. Just baseless “oh but it may be compromised some day!”.
Put another way - Russians and Belorussians are also trying to hack the encryption used by your bank. WHO KNOWS HOW LONG THAT WILL REMAIN SAFE.
Also, is Hegseth’s phone itself secure, and everyone has communicating with?
This is the actual issue here - not Signal. Using a personal device with who-knows-what for hardening or even patch management is a significant problem.
You have no evidence that the could or have compromised it at all. Just baseless “oh but it may be compromised some day!”.
Yes, that is the point. I have no evidence, nor will I. When Russia hacks it successfully, they aren’t going to put out a press release and give everyone a grace period to move off the app before they start harvesting state secrets are they? You need to act like it is already compromised becuase you don’t know that it isn’t or when it inevitably will be.
Yes, that is the point. I have no evidence, nor will I.
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There is no such thing as unbreakable encryption. It will be compromised at some point and you will not know when. To pretend otherwise is to asinine.
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Of course he is.
But also, foreign agents can literally just walk into the pisser at Mara-lago and find classified documents.
This administration has no interest in maintaining state secrets.
Oh I’ve seen this one! This is where the crowd starts chanting “LOCK HER UP, LOCK HER UP” right?
But what about her emails? /S
The amount of unqualified idiots being handed out security passes like halloween candy is unfathomable
Don’t worry, the Russians are still busy processing what they downloaded after fElon left the downloads open in DOGE-infested agencies.
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He was paid to do so
He had a number of unchaperoned calls with Putin. I think it’s more likely that he’s acting in fear of an unpleasant death; sometimes direct credible threats work wonders.
America’s government is already dead. This is darkly comical. America is dead. I don’t say that with pride but it is true. It is not what is was, and I’m not sure it ever was what they said it was.
Never was, just this time the mask fell off.
