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.”
Not just Hesgeth.
The whole administration is comprised of conspiracy nuts and other big brains who will click on any crazy link they come across.
The Director of National Intelligence is a probable Russian asset. Also the President.
And let’s not forget Elon and his Doge bro minions. They’re destroying the security around every system they touch, firing the people responsible for that security, moving sensitive data out through starlink to God knows where, and apparently just giving logins to Russia.
Almost makes storing nuclear secrets in a bathroom seem quaint and wholesome by comparison.
This, and Elmo too
Espionage? They are giving it away lol
Come on down to Crazy Pete’s intel emporium! We’re practically giving this intel away!
Crazy Pete’s 😂
Seriously, these people are publicly making mistakes that my grandma would make. If there’s a best practice for safety and security, they actively don’t do it.
Don’t worry, the Russians are still busy processing what they downloaded after fElon left the downloads open in DOGE-infested agencies.
almost as if f-elon did that deliberately
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.
That’s extremely possible. Now I have to look if Musk dares to get close to a window.
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Well, only if Trump hasn’t already Xeroxed the classified papers already, himself, to sell for personal profit.
Unrelated, it’s crazy to me that Xerox has remained in the lexicon for so long.
it’s a REALLY fun word.
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
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.
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.
Signal leak Pete is a pretty good nickname
Leaky Pete!
DrinkiLeaks
Whiskeyleaks
The amount of unqualified idiots being handed out security passes like halloween candy is unfathomable
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.
I don’t think it is a fear. It is a fact
Why bother? I’m sure for the right price it’s for sale. Might require a trip to the Mar-a-Lago bathroom though.
after the complimentary lunch of room-temperature big macs and fries, that won’t be a problem.
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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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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.
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.
oh, well if it’s on the phone it shows it there. And there’s only five devices allowed. Plus, if that’s a concern for OpSec this should not be an option - link none.
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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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.
That headline is a masterwork of obfuscation, softening an obvious fact by hiding it behind “fears grow”.
