Considering Trump once made a big deal about “email servers”, it would be the height of hypocrisy for him to then let this slide without at least resignations/dismissals if not prosecutions.
But as you’ve noted, even without intellectual and logical consistency (cuz…well…Trump), this act by itself and on its own merits is egregious and deserves severe denunciation.
It’s even worse that it involved a couple of ex-military people who FFS should have known better.
I probably understand your point of view better than most of your readers. You develop a sense of ownership of the information you protect. If the Goldberg claim is true, it is a serious matter. As a Signal Officer with Army Air Defense Command, I took seriously my duties to protect the super-secret information entrusted to me. My position required that I be able to respond to my duty station in 30 minutes or have a qualified officer designated to act in my stead. The Vietnam war was just starting and the availability of officers I could call on was decreasing as they were sent to Vietnam. Instead, I was being cross trained as a Tactical Control Officer and an Electronics Warfare Officer and could not even go far off base. The job required extensive travel on both sides of Puget Sound and our helicopter crews were being reassigned to Vietnam. All of this when my son was born. It was almost a relief when I got orders for Vietnam. Never went but tested radios for NATO instead.
My reserve unit (auxillary to the national guard) uses signal for lack of any other tool. But we don't send mission critical data, we use it for "got home safely" messages. I'd like to know what idiot staffer added Goldberg's name. That person needs a stern lecture. But the article is right that it is too easy to add people to Signal
Generally a good article. I’d say that Walz was not in breach of OPSEC by inadvertently adding Goldberg. The people in this group are free to use their own phones and use apps. The issue was the alleged classified info. That seems to be all on Hegseth.
Also regardless of whether or not they previously served, Hegseth is subject to UCMJ, as SECDEF. The application of that towards him would be unexpected (from any administration), but it is an inarguable fact that he is subject to it and violated it.
Finally, I also disagree that an inadvertent breach of opsec would automatically invoke a court martial. If he repeatedly sent classified info via commercial chat, then the likelihood would increase. So far, it wouldn’t seem plausible for a court martial. It just seems like a very stupid gaffe.
Should he resign? Of course not. He serves at the pleasure of the President, not the opposition party. Now, should The President fire him? We’ll have to wait and see.
Considering Trump once made a big deal about “email servers”, it would be the height of hypocrisy for him to then let this slide without at least resignations/dismissals if not prosecutions.
But as you’ve noted, even without intellectual and logical consistency (cuz…well…Trump), this act by itself and on its own merits is egregious and deserves severe denunciation.
It’s even worse that it involved a couple of ex-military people who FFS should have known better.
I probably understand your point of view better than most of your readers. You develop a sense of ownership of the information you protect. If the Goldberg claim is true, it is a serious matter. As a Signal Officer with Army Air Defense Command, I took seriously my duties to protect the super-secret information entrusted to me. My position required that I be able to respond to my duty station in 30 minutes or have a qualified officer designated to act in my stead. The Vietnam war was just starting and the availability of officers I could call on was decreasing as they were sent to Vietnam. Instead, I was being cross trained as a Tactical Control Officer and an Electronics Warfare Officer and could not even go far off base. The job required extensive travel on both sides of Puget Sound and our helicopter crews were being reassigned to Vietnam. All of this when my son was born. It was almost a relief when I got orders for Vietnam. Never went but tested radios for NATO instead.
My reserve unit (auxillary to the national guard) uses signal for lack of any other tool. But we don't send mission critical data, we use it for "got home safely" messages. I'd like to know what idiot staffer added Goldberg's name. That person needs a stern lecture. But the article is right that it is too easy to add people to Signal
Dunno if you can corroborate, but I've seen it said that "SIGNAL cannot be downloaded on government phones with SIPRnet and JWICS secure networks."
Assumedly this means that they were using personal phones with the Signal app installed, none of which were secured for confidential information.
And likely, they were using Signal to avoid federal records laws - this is just the only instance we know about, so far.
I don't have a govt phone. SDFs are always short on hardware. OPSEC is a nightmare for us.
Thanks Steve for an enlightening post.
Generally a good article. I’d say that Walz was not in breach of OPSEC by inadvertently adding Goldberg. The people in this group are free to use their own phones and use apps. The issue was the alleged classified info. That seems to be all on Hegseth.
Also regardless of whether or not they previously served, Hegseth is subject to UCMJ, as SECDEF. The application of that towards him would be unexpected (from any administration), but it is an inarguable fact that he is subject to it and violated it.
Finally, I also disagree that an inadvertent breach of opsec would automatically invoke a court martial. If he repeatedly sent classified info via commercial chat, then the likelihood would increase. So far, it wouldn’t seem plausible for a court martial. It just seems like a very stupid gaffe.
Should he resign? Of course not. He serves at the pleasure of the President, not the opposition party. Now, should The President fire him? We’ll have to wait and see.
There was a day when cabinet members would resign to save face for the president.