Latest news with #SensitiveCompartmentedInformationFacility
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Trump insider makes bombshell claim on UFO and aliens: ‘Very credible people have…'
A Trump ally and the chair of the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, Rep Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, made several bombshell claims about aliens, UFOs, and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. The 36-year-old said that there is credible evidence about the existence of what they call 'interdimensional beings'. However, she did not get into specifics. U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) speaks to reporters as House Members depart after a vote. (REUTERS) Luna told Rogan she has viewed classified photographs of unidentified objects inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). According to her, these objects were 'not created by mankind' and could represent technology that surpasses current human understanding. Read More: Harvard, Trump administration near historic $500 million settlement to end federal funding freeze 'They call them interdimensional beings,' Luna said, suggesting such entities might navigate 'through the time spaces that we currently have.' Without revealing classified details, she added that credible witnesses have reported incidents involving movements beyond normal temporal or spatial limits. 'I think that they can actually operate through the time spaces that we currently have. I can tell you without getting into classified conversations that there have been incidents where very credible people have reported that there have been movements outside of time and space,' she added. The Florida Republican, a key Trump ally, noted that she plans to continue for answers and public access to 'previously hidden' information on UAPs. This comes only days after Vice President JD Vance spoke about exploring unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Read More: Trump warns Russia of 'very severe' consequences if it doesn't stop Ukraine war 'I'm obsessed with the whole UFO thing. What's actually going on? What were those videos all about? What's actually happening?' he had said earlier this month. Luna's remarks follow her role in the 2023 House Oversight probe into the government's handling of UAPs, including footage from Florida's Eglin Air Force Base.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration's use of disappearing Signal messages to discuss military strikes not allowed under record law, experts say
The Trump administration accidentally added the editor-in-chief of to a Signal group chat that shared classified war plans. The app is defined by the Defense Department as an "unmanaged platform" and is not approved for sharing classified information. Senior officials in the Trump administration are under fire after inadvertently sharing secret war plans with a reporter via a Signal group chat. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said he was added to a group chat that included U.S. vice president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, national security advisor Mike Waltz, and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Goldberg said he was added to the group, which was named "Houthi PC small group" and included one "active intelligence officer," by Waltz on March 13. To his surprise, the members then went on to share details of Houthi targets, weapons packages, and timing of an upcoming attack. The report has raised questions about the Trump administration's use of Signal, which has previously been classified by the Defense Department as an "unmanaged" messaging app and is not approved for official use. In a 2023 memo, the Defense Department defined unmanaged apps, which also included platforms like WhatsApp and Apple iMessage, as those "NOT authorized to access, transmit, or process non-public DoD information." Instead, the U.S. government requires officials to use approved classified communication systems, such as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), to discuss secret data. In his report, Goldberg also said that some of the messages in the group chat utilized Signal's "disappearing messages" function, with some set to delete after one week and others after four weeks. This has prompted concerns about potential violations of public records law by the U.S. officials. One former government security leader, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told Fortune that all of the officials involved in the Signal group would have been required to preserve their communications under record laws. The person added that none of the officials involved in the group chat had the authority to decide which of their communications did and didn't apply to public record laws. Jason R. Baron, a professor at the University of Maryland and the former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration, told The Atlantic: 'Under the records laws applicable to the White House and federal agencies, all government employees are prohibited from using electronic-messaging applications such as Signal for official business unless those messages are promptly forwarded or copied to an official government account." The officials' use of Signal has been criticized by other former officials, including former national security adviser under President Trump's first administration, John Bolton. 'I couldn't imagine anybody would use Signal,' Bolton told CNN. 'I'll just say this: If you think Signal is equivalent to U.S. government secure telecommunications, think again.' Signal is an encrypted messaging app popular with journalists, activists, whistleblowers, tech workers, and anyone else who wants to securely communicate information. Recently, it has also become increasingly popular with federal workers. Many government workers have taken to the encrypted messaging app to discuss concerns over their job security as Elon Musk's DOGE team attempts to slash government headcount with rounds of mass layoffs. The former government security worker told Fortune that the use of Signal had become increasingly commonplace with government workers during the new Trump administration. It's seen as more secure because it is end-to-end encrypted and open-source, which allows security experts to audit it for vulnerabilities. Unlike other messaging apps, Signal doesn't store data like message logs, contacts, or locations on its servers. Users can also set some of the messages to disappear after certain lengths of time. While Signal is allowed for personal conversations between government workers, is not approved for official government use. There are concerns that the app could be vulnerable to state-sponsored hackers or other security risks. For example, a recent report from Mandiant—a cybersecurity firm owned by Google—uncovered an operation by Russian-linked spies who attempted to compromise the Signal accounts of Ukrainian military personnel by masquerading as familiar contacts. The report has sparked an outcry from Democrats, who have widely condemned the officials for using an unauthorized platform for official communications. Waltz is also facing growing pressure to step down. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called it "one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time," while former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said: 'From an operational security perspective, this is the highest level of f‑‑‑up imaginable." Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, called the group chat a "shocking breach" in a post on X. "If senior advisors to President Trump in fact used non-secure, non-government systems to discuss and convey detailed war plans, it's a shocking breach of the standards for sharing classified information that could have put American service members at risk. There needs to be an oversight hearing and accountability for these actions," he wrote. Representatives for the Defense Department did not comment, while the Trump Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune. However, Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council confirmed the authenticity of the Signal group to The Atlantic. 'This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,' Hughes told the outlet. 'The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.' Donald Trump has also come to Waltz's defense, calling it his 'only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.' The U.S. president told NBC News on Tuesday: 'Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man." Waltz has lashed out at The Atlantic over the report and denied that he messaged highly sensitive "war plans" to Goldberg. "You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called 'journalist' who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again," he said after landing in Hawaii Monday. This story was originally featured on
Forbes
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
The Wiretap: A Signal Of The Trump Administration's Security Vulnerabilities
The Wiretap is your weekly digest of cybersecurity, internet privacy and surveillance news. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here. After a leak of a Signal chat to a reporter, there have been calls for defense secretary Pete Hegseth to be fired. (Photo by) Getty Images The accidental inclusion of The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a Signal chat detailing where bombs were going to fall in Yemen has managed to elicit bipartisan astonishment and criticism. This was undoubtedly one of the most bizarre intelligence-related snafus in recent memory, not to mention careless and potentially illegal. It's also a sign of what to expect from a government led by a president whose operational security has long been a concern, from his use of a personal device to do government business, to his hoarding of classified files at Mar-a-Lago. A more immediate intelligence concern, though, is that former news anchor and now defense department chief Pete Hegseth seemed happy to disclose airstrike information in a Signal chat outside of official government channels. Then there's national security advisor Michael Waltz, the one who set up the chat and added Goldberg to it in the first place. Lawmakers are, understandably, calling for Hegseth and Waltz to go. 'It does not take much imagination to consider the likely ramifications if this information had been made public prior to the strike – or worse, if it had been shared with or visible to an adversary rather than a reporter who seems to have a better grasp of how to handle classified information than your national security Advisor,' a group of Senators, including Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote to President Trump on Monday. Another concern is that other officials - including Vice President J.D. Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles - were also on the chat but didn't appear to push back against this information being shared on it. Typically, these types of conversations are either conducted in person or using a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (or 'SCIF'), not staffers' personal devices If anything, the leak is encouragement for the likes of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, all of whom have been building substantial cyber espionage operations in recent years. All will now be emboldened by the Trump crew's inability to use Signal securely. It was only last month that Google researchers warned about Russia targeting Signal accounts of Ukrainian military chiefs. If America's adversaries ever break into the phones of Trump officials, they could well land on a goldmine of U.S. intel and military secrets. Got a tip on surveillance or cybercrime? Get me on Signal at +1 929-512-7964. (Photo by) 2017 Getty Images Google has been trying to use AI to process law enforcement requests for user information, but the tech isn't working as well as hoped. Unable to parse cops' data demands and retrieve the right data, it's often made the work of Google staff more onerous than it already was. With the number of backlogged requests now in the thousands, staff say they'd like some better automation tools, but now sources tell Forbes that 10 of those who were developing the AI have been fired and the future of the software is in doubt. Researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab claim to have found more examples of spyware made by Israeli-founded Paragon. The software is being deployed across Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore. Previously, a number of Italian journalists said they'd been targeted. The researchers also detailed cases where Paragon's Graphite spyware had been used to monitor victims' WhatsApp. 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this weekend and users' DNA data is now up for grabs. Hackers had stolen information on 7 million users in 2023, leading to a slew of civil cases filed by victims. The company fears it won't be able to afford payouts from those class actions and can avoid that via bankruptcy and a potential buyout. Tornado Cash got a huge boost this week as the Trump administration removed economic sanctions against the cryptocurrency firm. It had previously been sanctioned after North Korean hackers and other cybercriminals were seen laundering stolen crypto using Tornado Cash's platform, which allows users to 'tumble' their digital currency together and across different accounts . While the Trump administration said it recognized that digital thieves had used Tornado, the potential for cryptocurrency to foster innovation trumped the risk of allowing the platform to remain open to Americans. Gotbit, a consulting company accused of artificially inflating trading volume in cryptocurrencies for clients, has agreed to forfeit $23 million in seized crypto and immediately cease operations. Its founder Aleksei Andriunin also pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud, the Justice Department announced.
The Independent
25-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
War by group chat fiasco exposes the shambolic heart of Trump's White House
Oh, my. Well, what was your reaction when you heard the US government was discussing classified military information on a group chat? This is probably unworthy, but I laughed; I laughed an incredulous, gob-smacked laugh. I mean of all the people in all of the world to mistakenly add to your Signal group about strikes in Yemen, you choose the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, a periodical that has been sharply critical of the Trump administration. Not only that, Jeffrey Goldberg really knows his stuff on matters of national security. So many questions arise. If you know anything about the handling of confidential information in the US, you know this should be impossible. Sure, things leak, and I will write in a moment about what happened to me when information was leaked to me about a military strike from Trump's first term. But to add a journalist's name to this kind of chain? Unthinkable. Talk to US politicians and they will tell you how they had to go into the SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) to be briefed on something sensitive. An office within an office where no mobile devices can be taken and no phone signals or eavesdropping devices can penetrate. This is where the most confidential information is meant to be communicated. But here, on a commercial messaging company, the VP, the national security advisor, the secretary of state, the defence secretary, the White House chief of staff, and the treasury secretary were happily sharing the most highly classified information about strikes in Yemen with a journalist. When the Goldberg story broke, the reactions were utterly predictable. Donald Trump said he didn't know anything about it when confronted by reporters. And the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth went off on one – he railed against the journalist in question as being an untrustworthy liar. Had it been a less trustworthy journalist, it could have been a lot worse for the administration. Goldberg redacted key operational bits from his piece in deference to the importance of national security. Reading the full piece in The Atlantic you are left with some other impressions. There is the casualness of the exchanges. A lot of use of emojis to discuss strikes on the Houthis that left over 50 dead – you know the sort of thing: the strong arm emoji, fire, prayer, stars and stripes etc. But the other thing – and I am sure this is the takeout in Paris, Berlin, Rome and London – is the utter contempt for Europe that drips from the Signal exchanges. JD Vance wonders why the US is getting involved in protecting shipping in the Red Sea, when precious little US trade goes through the Suez Canal – only 3 per cent compared to 40 per cent for Europeans. When Pete Hegseth replies that it is sending an important message to the Houthis and to the rest of the world, Vance replies: 'If you think we should do it, let's go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.' And this is a view Hegseth embraces fully. 'I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC.' Do I gently point out here that the only country to invoke Article 5 of the Nato Treaty (where an attack on one is an attack on all) has been the US after 9/11 – and then European nations rallied to the call to assist the Americans in Afghanistan. There was then a discussion among the principals small group on how they should invoice Europe for this military action. Given public pronouncements maybe we shouldn't be surprised about this hostility. But when JD Vance makes a speech in Munich – as he did at the security conference – we shouldn't be surprised. It is performative; a way of sending a message. But when you see this is what they're saying in private, you see the raw disdain in which we Europeans are held. Also, the most important part of the special relationship between the US and the UK is intelligence sharing. Am sure there will be those at MI6 or GCHQ asking whether there is a need for a rethink about how trustworthy the US side is in these matters. But it looks like nothing will happen. Trump says he has confidence in his national security team. It wasn't always like this, though. During Trump's first administration, I was in receipt of leaked information that the US was about to launch military strikes against Syria over their use of chemical weapons. It was late afternoon on a Friday. I was told the French and British would be involved in the air strikes. They would happen later that evening, and at 9pm the president would address the nation from the White House. I posted this on what was then Twitter, citing a well-placed source. The White House rubbished my tweet and told reporters to go and enjoy their Friday evening. Sure enough the strikes happened, and the president gave a televised address at exactly 9pm – I should add to my relief; it would be quite a story to have got wrong. Three days later I saw on my iPhone that I had a text message from my source. But although I could see I had a message on the front screen, I couldn't open it when I went into my messages. I rang my informant, and this person said he had the same thing: a message from me that he couldn't open. The advice from those who know was that our phones had been hacked and that we needed to strip them down and rebuild. The conclusion was that someone in the US administration was keen to find out who my source was. And this was done by someone who knew how to do this. But this was during Trump's first administration. You know, the supposedly chaotic one where things were a daily shambles. Unlike the present one, where there is laser focus on delivery and a professionalism and organisation the likes of which we've never seen before. You could have fooled me.
