logo
The larger problem uncovered by the Signal scandal

The larger problem uncovered by the Signal scandal

Yahoo26-03-2025

A version of this story appeared in CNN's What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.
After the White House argued, repeatedly, that there was no classified information in the now-infamous group chat of national security officials, The Atlantic published it.
CNN reporters annotated the entire chat, which included Hegseth's description of F-18s and drones preparing to strike targets, which anybody listening in would have known were to occur in Yemen since the name of the chat included the word 'Houthi.'
The White House and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth continued to argue, even after release of the chat, that the information wasn't classified, but only sensitive.
Multiple experts advised on CNN Wednesday that people should not get sidetracked by whether or not the information was classified.
What's below are the assessments of:
Retired Brigadier Gen. Mark Kimmitt, who during his military career worked as deputy director for strategy and plans for US Central Command, and then worked in the State Department as assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs during the George W. Bush administration
and Beth Sanner, a CNN National Security analyst who was deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration during portions of both the first Trump and Joe Biden administrations.
Kimmitt and Sanner both appeared on CNN Wednesday, and I subsequently followed up with Sanner on the phone.
CNN has reported that sources within the Pentagon believe that the information shared by Hegseth, which detailed when, to the minute, US fighters and drones would strike Houthi targets, was clearly classified.
Whether it was technically classified is beside the point, according to Kimmitt.
'I think everybody's missing the relevant issue,' he said, noting that Hegseth has the authority to declassify Pentagon information.
'If he says it's not classified, it's not classified,' Kimmit said. But 'the fundamental question that we should be asking is, 'Should it have been classified?' And the answer, of course, is yes.'
'I think we're watching a lot of bob and weave, instead of just making this simple,' said Sanner, who added that the rule of thumb is that anything that shouldn't be put into an unclassified email should be treated as classified material.
'Another really easy way to look at this is, 'If I'm sitting in Moscow or Beijing, would I be happy to get this information and think that I've gotten something really interesting?'' she said. Obviously yes.
First, the military portions of what was shared clearly should not have been shared.
'If there are planes, trains automobiles, whatever, heading toward an attack, it is classified,' Sanner said.
And if Hegseth wants to declassify something, there is a process of documentation that should be followed, she said.
Sanner said that the simple existence of the group chat on Signal likely did not violate any protocol, but when Vance and Hegseth got into a debate, that is the type of information that enemies would be particularly interested in.
'They have learned so much about how policymaking is being done in the US government, and, in fact, how it's not being done,' she said.
'The president has made a decision to go to war, but clearly that has been without complete deliberations, and that's something we should get our heads around,' she said.
Vance raised concerns about the strike in the group chat, but there's no evidence those concerns were conveyed to the president.
The White House and Hegseth have argued that what Hegseth shared in the chat was not, technically speaking, a 'war plan' even though it included some details about timing, targets and method of attack.
Asked if this was a semantic distinction between a war plan and a plan of attack, Kimmitt said no.
'There's a distinction with a difference,' he argued.
'War plans are preparatory plans that come in excruciating detail that are ready to conduct an operation in the future. They are plans. They're not operations,' he said.
When something becomes operational, like the Yemen attack, it might become even more sensitive than a war plan.
'War plans are probably less sensitive because they are speculative in nature. Operations plans, which we saw released as part of these texts, clearly are less speculative, more active, and put more soldiers and sailors and airmen at risk.'
But when Kimmitt was asked about the argument made by Democratic members of Congress that this Signal chat actively put US service members in harm's way, he said that is probably a 'somewhat inflammatory' view. Signal is a relatively secure app, and the operation was in fact successful, he said.
'I came up in an Army that was somewhat forgiving of mistakes that were made unintentionally and did not create any harm,' he said.
The White House and Hegseth have gone to great lengths to argue there was no classified material in the Signal chat. Kimmitt argued that is making the problem worse.
'The coverup, or the pushing back on this, I think it's probably something that doesn't show a lot of maturity, and people ought to think very hard about it. Just admit the screw-up. Fix it. Don't do it again,' he said.
The cavalier attitude of using an app like Signal for these kinds of deliberations needs to change, Sanner said.
Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were both in foreign countries during portions of the group chat, and Sanner said the administration needs to tighten things up as it deals with countries like Russia, China and Iran.
The app may be encrypted, but the phone being used – and we don't know if these were personal or government phones – might be compromised, particularly in a foreign country.
The issue should not be a partisan one, Sanner said, but rather an opportunity for change.
'We have to understand that all the politicization of this issue is making it harder for everyone to do the right thing, which is to fix their comms so that our adversaries cannot know what we're doing and how we're doing it,' she said.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Australia awaits American decision on AUKUS nuclear submarine pact
Australia awaits American decision on AUKUS nuclear submarine pact

UPI

time11 minutes ago

  • UPI

Australia awaits American decision on AUKUS nuclear submarine pact

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, Calif. in March of 2023. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo June 12 (UPI) -- Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles announced Thursday he feels that the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal which connects with the United Kingdom and United States, will continue after the Trump administration reviews the pact. "I am very confident this is going to happen," he told ABC News, as he believes AUKUS is of strategic interest to all three nations. The Pentagon has expressed that the 2021 deal is being reassessed to make sure it's a fit with President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda before he meets with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G7 summit taking place in Canada next week. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also had met with Marles, who is also Australia's Minister for Defense, earlier this month and recommended Australia increase its defense spending to 3.5 percent of its GDP. Albanese said in a press conference Tuesday that he thinks "that Australia should decide what we spend on Australia's defense" when asked about a defense spending boost, while not directly addressing if he would risk losing the AUKUS deal over that decision as questioned. The Pentagon review is being led by U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, who in the past has been critical of the deal made under the Biden administration to arm Australia with nuclear subs that use advanced American and British technology. "In principle it's a great idea," Colby posted to X about AUKUS in August of 2024," but added he's "agnostic" about the program. However, Colby also posted that day he was "convinced we should focus on Asia, readying for a war with China" in order to avoid it. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian announced Thursday in a press conference when asked about his nation's opinion on the possibility of an end to AUKUS that China opposes "manufacturing bloc confrontation and anything that amplifies the risk of nuclear proliferation and exacerbates arms race."

Terry Moran launches Substack to continue doing ‘important work' following ABC News ouster
Terry Moran launches Substack to continue doing ‘important work' following ABC News ouster

Yahoo

time15 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Terry Moran launches Substack to continue doing ‘important work' following ABC News ouster

A day after ABC News parted ways with longtime correspondent Terry Moran following his 'world-class hater' tweets about Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, Moran announced that he was joining the growing chorus of former TV anchors and hosts who have launched their own Substacks. 'For almost 28 years, I was a reporter and anchor for ABC News, and as you may have heard, I'm not there anymore,' he said in a video posted to social media and his own personal Substack account. In the post titled 'Independence Day,' the former Nightline anchor suggested that he would be going the independent route for the time being, following in the footsteps of other veteran broadcasters and reporters who have recently found themselves sidelined by mainstream news networks and legacy press outlets. 'I'm here, with you, on Substack, this amazing space. And I can't wait to get at it, to get at the important work that we all have to do in this time of such trouble for our country,' he stated. 'I'm gonna be reporting and interviewing and just sharing from you, and hoping to hear from you as well.' Moran did let his followers know that it could be a while before he actually starts producing content on a regular basis. 'So, it'll be a few days, maybe a little bit longer, got to get some stuff sorted out, but can't wait to see you,' he concluded. The now-former ABC News anchor and correspondent is adding his name to the expanding list of prominent names who have turned to Substack and similar subscriber-based platforms as television news networks and media conglomerates continue to slash costs amid dwindling ad revenues. Jim Acosta, the former CNN anchor who left the cable news giant earlier this year rather than accept a move to the dreaded midnight shift, encouraged Moran to follow in his footsteps and join Substack earlier this week. 'Come on in, Terry. The water is warm,' he told Vanity Fair. With other TV news vets such as Joy Reid, Don Lemon, Chuck Todd and Chris Matthews all creating their own online programs – not to mention one-time MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan starting up his own Substack-based media company Zeteo – Vanity Fair spoke to some who have recently taken the dive into independent journalism. 'My advice to Terry or any other legacy media person who goes independent is this: You have spent your whole life as a buyer. People came to you with information, job offers, etc. Now you are a seller,' former CNN analyst Chris Cillizza said, adding, 'My view is that as an independent news creator, you have to be in a lot of places at once.' Moran's Substack announcement also came shortly after anti-Trump digital media empire MeidasTouch – which just hired Katie Phang after MSNBC canceled her show – publicly pitched him to join the network. 'There's a seat at the table for you, Terry,' MeidasTouch founder Ben Meisalas declared in a video posted to social media. 'Help lead the next era of journalism—one that doesn't flinch when democracy is under threat.' The journey from broadcast television to Substacking has been quick for Moran, who was suspended by ABC News on Sunday after he sent out a late-night screed savaging Trump and his deputy chief of staff Miller. 'Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred,' Moran wrote in the since-deleted tweet. 'He's a world-class hater. You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.' He added: 'The thing about Stephen Miller is not that he is the brains behind Trumpism. It's not brains. It's bile.' With the administration demanding that the network take action against Moran and MAGA media calling for him to be fired, ABC News announced on Sunday morning that he was 'suspended pending further evaluation' as his post 'does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards.' Moran, who had just sat down with Trump for a newsmaking and high-profile interview six weeks earlier, found himself fired two days later. Progressives and liberals savaged the move and accused the network of once again capitulating to the president, specifically noting that the network had paid Trump $15 million late last year to settle a defamation lawsuit involving anchor George Stephanopoulos. In the end, though, the decision to cut Moran may have had as much to do with economics as it did with criticism over his tweets, which also reportedly resonated within the halls of the ABC newsroom. 'The fact that Moran was at the end of a contract cycle — his deal was set to expire on Friday, according to a person briefed on the matter — made it easier for ABC to take swift action,' CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter reported on Tuesday.

Video shows moment plane crashes in India
Video shows moment plane crashes in India

CNN

time24 minutes ago

  • CNN

Video shows moment plane crashes in India

Video shows moment plane crashes in India Social media video shows flames and thick smoke billowing into the air, as an Air India passenger plane, carrying 242 people, crashed shortly after takeoff. The plane had departed an airport in Ahmedabad, India and was bound for London's Gatwick Airport. 00:20 - Source: CNN Vertical World News 16 videos Video shows moment plane crashes in India Social media video shows flames and thick smoke billowing into the air, as an Air India passenger plane, carrying 242 people, crashed shortly after takeoff. The plane had departed an airport in Ahmedabad, India and was bound for London's Gatwick Airport. 00:20 - Source: CNN Analysis: Is Netanyahu's government under threat? Among an ongoing corruption trial, protests against his leadership and an upcoming vote to dissolve the government, CNN's Oren Liebermann looks at the growing pressure on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 01:59 - Source: CNN Austrian mayor of city hit by school shooting speaks to CNN Austria is reeling from one of the worst rampages in the country's history after a gunman opened fire at a high school in the city of Graz, killing 10 people, including teenagers. Elke Kahr, mayor of Graz, spoke to CNN's Frederik Pleitgen during a candlelight vigil as the city reflects on the rare tragedy. 01:15 - Source: CNN BTS members discharged from South Korean military One of the world's biggest boybands could soon be making a comeback with six out of seven members of K-Pop supergroup BTS now discharged from South Korea's mandatory military service. The band plans to reunite at some point later this year. 00:47 - Source: CNN Mexican flags at LA protests spark heated debate Mexico's flag has become a defining symbol of the protests in Los Angeles, sparking a heated debate amongst the Latino community about whether or not it's disrespectful. CNN's Rafael Romo breaks down the debate and what the it means to be Mexican-American right now. 01:53 - Source: CNN Hear Mexico president's response to LA protests Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she does not agree with the violent immigration protests in Los Angeles and urged Mexicans in California to 'not fall into provocations.' The president emphasized that Mexicans in the US 'are good men and women.' 00:36 - Source: CNN Austria hit by rare school shooting A gunman in Austria opened fire on a school in the southern city of Graz, killing himself and at least nine others. The death toll includes teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18, the Austrian interior ministry said. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports. 01:05 - Source: CNN Ukrainian boxer to Trump: 'Open your eyes' World heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk shared a message for President Trump in an interview with CNN, asking him to help Ukraine as it continues its fight against a full-scale Russian invasion. 00:54 - Source: CNN Israeli military intercepts Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla Israel has intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship carrying Greta Thunberg and other prominent activists, detaining those onboard, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), with Israel's foreign ministry saying activists have been taken to Israel 01:23 - Source: CNN Why Trump is on billboards in Syria's capital city Billboards thanking President Trump have popped up across Damascus, Syria's capital city. CNN's Clarissa Ward meets the woman trying to 'Make Syria Great Again.' 01:18 - Source: CNN Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe shot in Bogota A Colombian senator and presidential hopeful is in a critical condition after being shot twice at an event in Bogota, according to national police and prosecutors. Police arrested a 15-year-old carrying a Glock pistol, according to the Attorney General's Office. Miguel Uribe expressed intentions to run in the 2026 presidential election for the country's largest opposition party, the center-right Centro Democrático, or Democratic Center. 01:05 - Source: CNN Why China doesn't need the US auto market If there is one thing to be learned from Auto Shanghai - China's largest automobile show - it's that China has dozens of car brands that can rival Western ones. BYD surpassed Tesla's profits, but other EVs like those made by Zeekr, Xiaomi and Chery are quickly joining the race. CNN's Marc Stewart took a rare test drive of Zeekr's new 7GT. 00:44 - Source: CNN Analysis: Trump is in a crisis of his own making Trump tells President Vladimir Putin to stop after Russia launched its deadliest wave of attacks on Kyiv in nine months. This comes days after Trump said the US would walk out on efforts to make a peace deal in Ukraine if it didn't see progress. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh breaks down the latest. 01:03 - Source: CNN Russia launches strikes across Ukraine Russia launched waves of drones and ballistic missiles at multiple targets across a broad swath of Ukraine overnight killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv and wounding around 40 across the country. 00:32 - Source: CNN German leader on 'terrible' impact of Trump's tariffs In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz talks about the impact President Trump's tariffs are having on the auto industry. 01:13 - Source: CNN Greta Thunberg sails to Gaza Greta Thunberg has set sail with eleven other activists to Gaza. The activist group they're part of, The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, is attempting to bring aid and raise international awareness over the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the territory. 00:59 - Source: CNN

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store