# The specific clusterfuck of discussing war plans over Signal, a consumer cellphone app **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [March 26, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157 "2025-03-26T21:01:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/121 "2025-03-27T17:59:55Z")
I have read that the Atlantic did not release the full text until the Administration said that no secret items were discussed. Pardon if this had previously been posted. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/122 "2025-03-27T18:04:18Z")
Yes, after they said so under oath, in fact. And even then, he redacted the name of the operative that was in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/123 "2025-03-27T18:06:16Z")
Thank goodness. I wonder if the guy is still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/124 "2025-03-27T18:29:37Z")
Ever since I read that the leak happened because someone added the wrong “JG” contact to the chat, I’ve been wondering what hilarity might ensue next time, when someone accidentally adds the wrong VP. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/125 "2025-03-27T19:10:15Z")
Reporter: Is the DOJ investigating the leak? Bondi: HILLARY’S EMAILS! > **[The Bulwark (@thebulwark.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/thebulwark.bsky.social/post/3llellrog5k25)** > > Q: “In terms of the Signal chat controversy…is the DOJ involved at this point?” > > Bondi: “…We're not going to comment any further on that. If you want to talk about classified information, talk about what was at Hillary Clinton's home that she was... ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/126 "2025-03-27T19:15:38Z")
Wasn’t there some infinitely worse criminality going on at Mar-A-Lago vis-a-vis classified documents and endless Obstruction of Justice … maybe _in between_ that Hillary stuff and the Signal chat imbroglio?? I could have sworn… As always, what irks and saddens me the most is that somebody like Bondi has the unmitigated confidence that this kind of bullshit will land with its intended audience, and that the intended audience will _never_ consider what I just mentioned. Except to recall fondly words like “WITCH HUNT!” and “LAWFARE!” And, of course, “BIDEN’S GARAGE!” I weep for America and I curse the least knowledgeable, most credulous among us, for they are truly the Architects of America’s destruction. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/127 "2025-03-27T21:58:01Z")
> [@Tierce](#): > > Ever since I read that the leak happened because someone added the wrong “JG” contact to the chat, I’ve been wondering what hilarity might ensue next time, when someone accidentally adds the wrong VP. Ha! (Took me a minute). No one needs to “add” Putin. They’re always doing exactly what he wants, all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/128 "2025-03-27T22:17:05Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Firxt Felon47 invoked a _ **wartime** _ law to justify/excuse his mass deportation. “So there!” right back at you! Yes, we’re at war with a Venezuelan gang (for purposes of doing no-due-process deportations) and NOT at war with the Houthis we’re bombing (for purposes of saving Pete Hegseth’s ass). > [@Monty](#): > > Another thing, how the fuck is getting us actively involved in another shooting war supposed to be keeping us out of wars? “Keeping us out of wars” was just a line to get the rubes to vote for Donald. It was nothing to do with Donald’s actual plans. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > They weren’t using White House phones. They were using personal phones. And how. Easily hackable—especially since their details are PUBLICLY AVAILABLE: > [@](#): > > Private contact details of the most important security advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump can be found on the internet. DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials. > > To do so, the reporters used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web. Those affected by the leaks include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. > > Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use … > **[Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz, Tulsi Gabbard: Private Data and Passwords of Senior...](https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/pete-hegseth-mike-waltz-tulsi-gabbard-private-data-and-passwords-of-senior-u-s-security-officials-found-online-a-14221f90-e5c2-48e5-bc63-10b705521fb7)** > > Donald Trump's most important security advisers used Signal to discuss an imminent military strike. Now, reporting by DER SPIEGEL has found that the contact data of some of those officials, including mobile phone numbers, is freely accessible on the... Just covered in glory all over. ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/129 "2025-03-27T22:18:30Z")
But which way round would be worse? (Or funnier?) ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/130 "2025-03-27T23:45:01Z")
This Der Speigel article has been posted in a number of threads, and I’ve seen it in multiple subreddits. I read it, and nearest I can tell it’s BS. Not that any of it isn’t true, but the implication. It seems like they found publicly available phone numbers and email addresses. You can then plug those email addresses into a site like [haveibeenpwned.com](http://haveibeenpwned.com) and it will tell you all the data breaches that email has been associated with. I’m not sure if you still can do this, but using my username and some old whois records, you can figure out my real name, phone number, emails, and old addresses I used to live at. You can then use the site above to discover all the times my passwords were stolen in data breaches. All it means is that privacy is a joke, and pretty much all of us have been victims of data breaches. It’s not any kind of reflection on anyone in listed in the article. They’re victims, just like I am. (Obviously I don’t use any of my compromised passwords anymore, I use strong passwords, I use different passwords for each site, I use mfa, etc) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/131 "2025-03-27T23:51:02Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > It was nothing to do with Donald’s actual plans. I refuse to believe trump has plans. He has a short fuse and attention span, and NSFW too. And he is easily influenced and has a lot of mental problems. A coherent plan is beyond his capabilities. Others are taking advantage of than ease to influence him. Not just Putin. Let’s don’t get bogged down in details: remember that using Signal at all was already illegal. And that the chat we know of admits that it is usual practice. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/132 "2025-03-28T00:11:10Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > All it means is that privacy is a joke, and pretty much all of us have been victims of data breaches. All the more reason people shouldn’t be using their day-to-day devices and accounts for purposes of national security then, wouldn’t you say? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/133 "2025-03-28T00:17:26Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > All it means is that privacy is a joke, and pretty much all of us have been victims of data breaches. It’s not any kind of reflection on anyone in listed in the article. They’re victims, just like I am. The reflection on the people in the article isn’t that they were uniquely victimized by data breaches, or that the fact their information is out there makes them uniquely careless. It’s that their personal information is out there, and despite that, they were using personal (i.e., insecure) phones, and commercial (i.e., insecure) chat programs, to conduct conversations on U.S. defense policy and plans, very likely so that they could bypass U.S. laws about documentation of official conversations. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/134 "2025-03-28T01:41:03Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yes, we’re at war with a Venezuelan gang (for purposes of doing no-due-process deportations) and NOT at war with the Houthis we’re bombing (for purposes of saving Pete Hegseth’s ass). Norman! Coordinate! Coordinate! > [@steronz](#): > > (Obviously I don’t use any of my compromised passwords anymore, I use strong passwords, I use different passwords for each site, I use mfa, etc) But are you using your privately owned personal phone for discussing your upcoming battles? [Even **GROSS** has better OPSEC than these idiots.](https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2025/03/26) By the way, over on GoComics, I’m posting as **californiamonty**. [Yesterday’s _Doonesbury_ rerun was eerily prescient for a 2002 strip.](https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2025/3/27) and [here’s the comment I made yesterday.](https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2025/3/27?comments=visible&replies=visible&comment_id=65369149) > [@](#): > > How bad could it go? Perhaps you could give me a Signal. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/135 "2025-03-28T01:52:27Z")
Sorry, I was just trying to fight ignorance, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/136 "2025-03-28T08:00:21Z")
[It’s like déjà vu all over again!](https://www.yahoo.com/news/dhs-staffer-faces-serious-punishment-200036222.html) > [@](#): > > A federal worker accidentally includes a journalist on a detailed message in advance of a government operation. > > While that sounds like the case of The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief being added to a group Signal chat by Trump’s national security adviser Michael Waltz, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth [shared detailed military attack plans](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/atlantic-publishes-full-signal-chat-messages-showing-military-plans-us-rcna198148) in Yemen, it’s not. > > It’s what happened to a longtime Department of Homeland Security employee who told colleagues she inadvertently sent unclassified details of an upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation to a journalist in late January, according to former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser, one former DHS official and one current DHS official. (The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they do not want to endanger their current or future career opportunities.) But wait; there’s a twist to the tale! > [@](#): > > But unlike Waltz and Hegseth, who both remain in their jobs, the career DHS employee was put on administrative leave and told late last week that the agency intends to revoke her security clearance, the officials said. In another thread, someone asked for names for the current administration. I nominated _Felonial Era_. I just completed the nomenclature chart. Here you go! - POSTDEMOCRATIC - - FELONIAL - - - HYPOCRITICAL - - - - FAILURE - - - - - TODDLER ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/137 "2025-03-28T16:02:19Z")
> [@War Plans Signal Screwup- The Atlantic is publishing the full messages](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-plans-signal-screwup-the-atlantic-is-publishing-the-full-messages/1016136/153): > > Here’s an exchange between Congressman Jim Himes and Tulsi Gabbard. The transcript comes from a FB post. The X post has a short video that covers the first two quotes in the exchange. I have not seen video of the whole exchange. HIMES: Do you think it’s responsible for you, as head of the intelligence community, to retweet posts from individuals affiliated with Russian state media? GABBARD: That retweet came from my personal account. HIMES: Personal account? You’re the Director of Nationa… ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/138 "2025-03-28T16:22:09Z")
> [@War Plans Signal Screwup- The Atlantic is publishing the full messages](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-plans-signal-screwup-the-atlantic-is-publishing-the-full-messages/1016136/153): > > GABBARD: That retweet came from my personal account. HIMES: Personal account? You’re the Director of Nationa… JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! How many times did we hear about “her emails”. The hypocrisy is off the charts and they are too fucking dense to see it LOCK HER UP! ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/139 "2025-03-28T17:18:37Z")
> [@War Plans Signal Screwup- The Atlantic is publishing the full messages](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-plans-signal-screwup-the-atlantic-is-publishing-the-full-messages/1016136/153): > > Here’s an exchange between Congressman Jim Himes and Tulsi Gabbard. As I posted in the other thread: I don’t believe the transcript, as listed here, is correct. I searched for the video of the whole exchange, and all I could find was the short interaction that was posted in the X post. In this video, Himes begins speaking at the 34:25 mark. The interaction between Himes and Gabbard begins at about the 36:05 mark. His first question, as listed in the post, begins at the 39:40 mark. After he asks the question, the transcript in the post deviates greatly from the actual video. He asks one more question about Gabbard’s retweet; she answers that it came from her personal account, and shortly thereafter, he yields his time. IOW, the transcript of the exchange, as posted on X, and quoted by **Johnny\_L.A.** is not factual. Disclaimer: I did not the entire 2:31:27 of this video. [From key position, Rep. Jim Himes presses officials on Yemen texts](https://ctmirror.org/2025/03/27/from-key-position-rep-jim-himes-presses-officials-on-yemen-texts/) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157/140 "2025-03-28T22:20:55Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Sorry, I was just trying to fight ignorance, is all. I could (and should) have explicitly said “the problem is that these people insist on using their personal devices despite knowing how insecure they are”\* and that would have saved you from having to make that post. My bad. > [@Monty](#): > > Felonial Era Perfection. . . Not sure if anyone has brought up the Air National Guardsman who was convicted for posting sensitive information on Discord: [https://www.npr.org/2024/11/12/nx-s1-5188642/former-airman-jack-teixeira-sentenced-to-15-years-for-leaking-classified-documents](https://www.npr.org/2024/11/12/nx-s1-5188642/former-airman-jack-teixeira-sentenced-to-15-years-for-leaking-classified-documents) Not an identical situation, of course. But it does seem to be like the Signalgate crew in that the guy was basically, it appears, thinking what he was doing was cool and great. (He wasn’t selling the information; just sharing it to impress the bros.) Odds of Donald’s darling Pete going to federal prison? Hahahahahahahahahaha. \*as @Smapti and @kenobi_65 basically posted [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-specific-clusterfuck-of-discussing-war-plans-over-signal-a-consumer-cellphone-app/1016157.md?page=8)