I absolutely agree. I spent nearly 40 years in the military, 37 as an officer in the Army and Navy. I have know too much and I will go to my grave holding secrets. What they did was absolutely irresponsible and dangerous to our military personnel. I have never seen such a clown car of fools running national security. This is a grave threat to our military personnel and our nation.
Thank you for your reporting and analyses. Be safe and watch your six.
I think that the possible worst thing of all this is that if they were using Signal for this, I’m betting they’ve been using Signal for a bunch of other stuff. And I’d bet more than one foreign govt knows all about everything discussed there.
I remember in Trump 1.0 he refused to have ethics training for his staff and cabinet. Most likely the clown car of national security leaders refused or ignored any training on protecting sensitive information. And yet we all remember "but her emails".
Didn't Congress bring her before them to question for like 9 hours and then a decision was made regarding her actions? At the hearing today,all of them seemed to point to Pete, who conveniently wasn't there or at least I don't remember seeing him. Should he and Marco have to sit and be questioned for hours upon hours? Really odd that DJT is backing him - usually he throws folks under the bus (likely b/c he doesn't care)!
From everything I've read and heard, many who worked at Fox, thought of him as a man with a multitude of issues, including alcoholism. He's not on Fox anymore (is he)? Haven't Hannity and Watters taken his place, if he really had a "place" to begin with as he seemed only to be a weekend host. And neither of them don't seem to have a problem dishing disinformation and misinformation. I don't watch Fox so am not an expert. I have can baerly watch the evening news and a few programs hosted by others!
It's the only way any of it makes sense. From the top down, every cabinet member is an unserious toady, with their orders to cripple the agency they've been given. What would tfg be doing any differently if he was overtly in Putin's camp?
And they are all complicit. Why did no one sound the alarm that Signal was being used? And why didn't they recognize that the Mr. Goldberg was aboard? Were they reading the Signals while munching burritos or getting a pedicure?
It's been reported one of the participants, Witkoff, was in Russia, in Moscow, in the Krelin and didn't leave for an hour or so after the chat ended. We.Are.Not.Safe.
That's my concern also. I haven't verified this, but I read that using apps like Signal was encouraged in Project 2025 to avoid the legally required archiving of government communications. So god knows what else they are chatting about on unsecured lines. They simply don't give a shit about the law or the American people, let alone people of other countries.
Steve Witkoff, who was on the chat, was in Moscow at the time. You have to know that the Russians hacked into his phone. They hack into everyone’s phones.
Signal is not secure. This entire discussion should have been held in a SCIF, not in a phone app.
To me the worst thing is the possibility that Trump was telling the truth when he said he knew nothing about it. Also, as Susan Rice asked, was the acting Joint Chief on that thread? He didn't seem to be. For some reason, the secretary of the Treasury was on the thread but not the guy with the actual knowledge of how to pull that off.
Signal has end-to-end encryption and is the most trusted messaging service but it's possible that the devices being used by the people involved could have been hacked. That very possibility was serious enough. Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, was apparently participating in the chat while in a meeting with Putin in Moscow.
You may not have heard of Scott McNealy's quote: when asked about Internet privacy, he said "You already have zero privacy. Get over it." The corollary is, of course, that there is no security on the Internet.
Signal is about as safe as you can get. Not only does it use end-to-end encryption (WhatsApp uses this too) but the code that makes the app work is open source - meaning anybody can check it to make sure there are no vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit. The Signal Foundation depends on donations not advertising and they do not collect and store your data. If Trump sends the FBI to get your data from Signal there's almost nothing they can hand over. That's not true with WhatsApp, which is owned by that creep Mark Fuckerberg. It's regularly used by cybersecurity experts. However, if your phone is hacked when Signal is open then there's going to be a problem. The safety ends once the message has been received as we've seen in recent days.
Thank you for your comment and for your many years of service. I have been calling the Trump Administration Trump's Clown Car Cabinet from day one. It seems that these unqualified, unfit individuals in TRump's service put us in harm's way more and more, every day. I've never felt more scared and unprotected in my lifetime.
Steve,it would be so helpful if you and your veteran colleagues would call the representatives in your district, Senate and House, and impress upon them how serious this is and that veterans will remember. Itʻs so easy for one crisis to blur into another, but this one should not disappear. Steve Schmidtʻs essay on nuclear subs today definitely reinforces the dangers of having a "clown car of fools" at the head of our national security. And thanks to all of you for your service to our country.
Thank you, Steve, for your commitment to our country and to the people in the military who sacrifice their lives, every single day. This critical incident could have been avoided and not been so disastrous had someone like been in charge of our Armed Forces. Nope, we got, the drunken Bryl-Creemed Christian Nationalist asshole at the helm!
I have one small glimmer of hope, since Mr Waltz had 'friended' Mr Goldberg prior to this pukadelic soiling of our security and our governance. Mr Waltz has a distinguished military record and, based only on a couple of interviews that I have watched on television, seems like a pretty level-headed guy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Waltz
Anyways, my hope is that Mr Waltz deliberately brought Mr Goldberg -- apparently a fine reporter who handled this delicate situation with discretion and respect for our younger brothers and sisters in uniform -- into the loop to precipitate just this kind of scandal that would end this dangerous practice, likely pursued elsewhere.
https://youtu.be/-vbghyhIZCk Although this song is 86½ year old, Artie Shaw (1910-2004) nailed the prevailing mood in 1938 as he does from the grave in 2025.
No. It is a Neddy neologism ivented forty-five years ago to describe the cinema of Woody Allen: pukadelic self-revelation. A bit out of context here. In the case, barfing out exhibitionism through a social medium.
Thank you for your service. We will not let these few sully your dedication and those that served with you. We know exactly what these select few are and soon I think a lot more people will as well.
I served only four years (1967-71), but in a part of the army involved directly in communications intelligence. I was required to have a very high security clearance for that work.
Several of my colleagues had their clearances removed for infractions far less blatant than this one (at least one was determined to have been at a party at which pot was smoked!). They were, as was the phrase then, ‘releasing to the department of the army’. Two of them were deployed immediately to Vietnam, and one ended up driving a truck in Alaska from Point A to Point B for the next three years.
Somehow I don’t expect Messers Waltz, Hesgeth, et al to have anything like that happen.
What if they did this on purpose? To evade a public record of the convo. Let Putin hear while one of them “just happened to be in Moscow” and learn to access how they use Signal. May as well announce a zoom call with the world now.
The "Signal Protocol" is designed to delete the allegedly disappearing Chat. There are known tech vulnerabilities. A lawsuit has been filed in DC federal court by the watchdog group, American Oversight.
See, federal Case No: 1:25-cv-0083 which pleads as follows against Pete Hegseth & 4 other individual defendants:
"SIGNAL messages are stored only on an individuals device with no copy or back-up of the message retained on the SIGNAL system or servers;" True.
So ... the automatic deletion programing is not a bug, it's a feature.
The American Oversight lawsuit continues:
"... this means the SIGNAL messages CAN [emphasis added] be preserved by the individual users through screenshots or other means but, once deleted, messages CANNOT [emphasis added] be restored or retrieved after deletion." True.
SPOILER ALERT: That is exactly what happened as reported byThe Guardian yesterday afternoon, 3/25. See, Andrew Roth's headline "Stunning Signal Leak ...". Roth posted a screenshot of the 11 "principals" SIGNAL message revealing the following dialog between J.D. Vance & Pete Hegseth:
J.D.Vance: "I just hate bailing them [the Euros] out again."
J.D.continues: "... there are some things we [U.S.] can do upfront to minimize risk to Saudi oil facilities ... we should do it."
Pete Hegseth : I fully share you loathing ...
[Note, The Guardian's screenshot cuts off after Pete's words "I fully share your loathing ...." Note further that other Platforms (The Atlantic) are reporting other content.]
Earlier in the news day, I took note that TULSI GABBARD refused to answer a direct Congressional Committee question about who among the 11 "principals" in the SIGNAL group used cell phones. GABBARD did not answer that question stating that the tech flaws were "under review."
We are on Professor Vance's "Civil Discourse" platform so I have a legal question:
Is the automatic "Mission Impossible" self-destruct feature an actionable violation of the federal Records Act?
Susan, don't you just love the way ignorant Trump started whining about Mr. Goldberg even though it was Trump's own ignoramuses or agents for Putin who included Goldberg. It was great Goldberg, a good journalist, didn't release names of people involved beyond the "big wigs" to protect people. Clearly Trump et al didn't care one wit about any of them or our military folks. Disgraceful!
I hope there is someone in the admin who will let us know if Trump is even paying attention. I get the impression that he golfs, and signs EOs, and posts on "Truth Social," but is otherwise disengaged.
As I commented on the last newsletter, national security is one of the top most frightening scares. What do you expect when you purposefully grant the most ignorant worst of the worst people the most important jobs....
David, I think Trump literally has no clue. It cannot be he by himself who put together that "clown car." He had a bunch of other stupid white men working with him. Yep, they sure are a master race, but we haven't figured out yet just what they are masters of beyond incompetence, disrespect, and contempt for the American people, oh yes, and a bunch of thugs. Maybe that is all they are.
POSTED ELSEWHERE: interesting interview of twenty-six minutes with a former national security advisor to Vice President Pence. The link above was embedded in the post.
"Important interview about this classified policy discussion over an 'encrypted' social medium that included a respected journalist.
"Olivia Troye served a the national security advisor to Vice President Pence. Her reasoned thinking shakes me to the bones in my pinky-toes. Thirty-six minutes well worth investing, if one is interested. Ms Troye and Mr Last drill down on some other key topics:
"> getting the boot from the five-eyes (if not already);
"> the absence of any understandable reason for this action; and,
"> the majority of people willing to risk everything for the good being women.
"MY FEAR. Team Treason did this deliberately so Putrid could join in on the fun. As Ms Troye and Mr Last point out, if this breach involved something as delicate as an attack with "clean op.-sec.", this practice is likely going on with many other deliberations.
"MY FAINT GLIMMER OF HOPE. Mr Waltz seems pretty level-headed to me. I am hoping against hope (with a 5% probability) that he deliberately brought a professional like the journalist, who showed discretion in breaking this story, to catalyze a scandal that would shut down, decisively, use of insecure channels across the trump terrain."
Interesting. As to your “optimism” about Waltz—Ruth Ben-Ghiat in her most recent posting mentions “Engineered Incompetence” as being part of the authoritarian’s arsenal. She means pols nominated for their supposed incompetence. I fear that’s at play here.
Good point. You bring to my mind my darker fear that has a higher probability: that this was deliberate so Putrid could get in on the fun. More likely for two reasons. 😰
1st, watching Deutsche Welle's daily newscast indicated that Mr Waltz was responding with emojis at least once. So my pollyanna probability goes down.🤬
2nd, apparently, if Jimmy Kimmel be accurate (and I believe him), that one of the participants in this chat was in Russia at the time. 😱
Perhaps the executive thinks that putting talking heads from the Fox propaganda channel into cabinet-level positions will earn him TV accolades, so there is no need to hire people with real expertise, and I'm sure he didn't even ask senior Republican members of Congress whom they would suggest for these positions.
Not entirely clear what Olivia Troye is saying here, due to the lack of context. I guess I should read the linked source. Just the same, if I understand at all what she was saying, it is inconceivable that an ignorant Trump appointee finagled a conference call on an inappropriate channel just to l'arn the other ignorant Trump appointees that they should stop doing that.
I'm reminded of the old Far Side comic, where the alien standing at the top of the stairway is looking down at his colleague sprawled at the foot, and saying "Wonderful, wonderful. So much for instilling in them a sense of awe."
As an old Marine I advise no young women or men to join any military service until we have a new Commander in Chief, SecDef, VP, and director of intelligence, etc. These self serving clowns will get your ass killed because of their ignorant minded decisions.
Also, we cannot allow them to drop this. We have to keep it going , like they did with “her emails”. This is a BFD, it needs to be shown as such to all of the people in this country, whether they are his fans or not. This was a violation of the Espionage Act.
These ignorant civilians are playing with fire when it comes to our national security. As an Army veteran, it sickens me to see so many arrogant individuals play games with the security of our fighting forces. The American people need to make short work of this nightmare. Vote!0
Reasonable advice, but as always, some go into the military thinking it is their only hope of getting somewhere in life, getting out of Mudville, learning a skill, getting a job. And they may still be right.
Rep. John Kennedy (R- LA) brushed off the incident by stating that the American people don’t care about this, as if that would make a difference. And why he believes we would not care— ask any military family what they think— is appalling in itself.
I'm a federal employee. If I were to discuss classified information like this on Signal, not only am I going to lose my job, I'm going to "get" to meet with very serious people who have the power to put me in handcuffs and make me wear an orange jumpsuit.
However, Rep. Kennedy is, sadly, correct This is important to us because we care, and recognzie the potential for very serious harm to US national security. We are able to think 2-3-4 steps ahead, without being over-the-top alarmist about it. The average Trump voter, and perhaps even a majority of Americans, IMO don't think like this. If they did, we'd have President Harris instead of this mess.
This kind of utter incompetence will only be important to most Americans, and to people like Rep. Kennedy, if it leads to something like the attack on USS Cole in 2000. Then it'll be a tragedy, and a major crisis that "demands answers."
I know people who think that this is a petty discussion when some decisions should be made to 'fix' the government. Like a brick wall in the middle of a race track....
That mush-mouth is appalling always. Somehow we have to make people see that this is not just about Houtis, just as the migrant deportations are not about removing dangerous people - it's rendition and can happen to any of us. It needs to be framed in a 'if this can happen in this situation, it can surely happen in a situation that hurts you too.'
How many more ways can fair-minded people be tested in explaining and confronting the malicious, mendacious, incompetent, careless and outright stupid nature of Trump, his administration, his sycophants in Congress and - no apologies here - and those who voted for him. Idiocy and peril were clearly foreseeable during the election campaign and people can twist themselves into knots blaming Biden, Harris and Democrats in general, but there is no way in hell that any person of sound mind and clear moral judgment could not determine that Kamala Harris was a far less dangerous and far more competent choice than Donald Trump.
I just watched (pointless curiosity!) a video of a recent cabinet meeting. Members were asked by Trump to talk about what they were doing. Each one spent their moment in the sun lavishing praise on Trump for his brilliance, his inspiration, his extraordinary vision, and his total mastery of the Presidency. I have never experienced such a revolting display of Bootlickery.
It looks like a scene from the Kremlin. Cockwomble did this subservient exercise the first time around, also.
People: please, contact Paul Weiss, and other lawfirms that are caving and tell them to grow a spine. I'm sure there are many good who work there, but they are cowards, leaving us to confront the released J6r's at our own cost.
Well put and true as are so many comments posted here. Trump should be impeached for the illegal things he has done since entering office and most of his cabinet secretaries' actions should be impeachable or at the very least replaced. They should all be gone and Vance too. He left the country in a hurry to be with his wife and child in Greenland. Apparently he wanted to vanish so he couldn't easily be asked questions.
“They should all be gone and Vance too. He left the country in a hurry to be with his wife and child in Greenland. Apparently he wanted to vanish so he couldn't easily be asked questions.“ But yes, of course! Haha!!!!!!!!….
Mob movie meets middle school: These are the people running our national security—trading war plans in a group chat like it’s fantasy football. If there’s no accountability now, what message does that send to every soldier risking their life under their orders?
If the conversation truly contained no classified information, Jeff Goldberg should notify them that he plans to publish full details of the conversation in the Atlantic. I suspect they would threaten him with prosecution, finding a reason to treat the information as not publishable for reasons of national security while trying to avoid the word "classified."
Harry Waizer -- Just saw him on the news saying since they are saying nothing was classified he is considering posting the entire conversation he was present for in the Atlantic.
NEW: Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic Released more of the texts: Trump Administration Live Updates: Newly Published Signal Texts Detail Airstrike Plans as Leak Criticism Mounts
Like any of the already public info on the planes’ departure times and specific itineraries are “state secrets” and can’t be revealed to a federal judge. A true clown 🤡 car admin.
Lascivious Lindsey is my senator down heah in South Crackerlina—he doesn’t know which side of his two faced pucker mouth to spew lies out of. He’ll probably rationalize it as “no big deal” saying that the incoming weapons, targeting, and timing weren’t classified — which it should definitely be. If it wasn’t classified that shows Hogsbreath & Co. to be absolutely incompetent and they all should be removed.
Lindsey is completely discountable, since he changes his position on everything, even day to day, with the political winds. Occasionally he tells the truth, but he has no commitment to the truth. All he wants is to stay around despite the Trump ascendancy, and if that requires fulsome praise from time to time, he's entirely good with it.
This is such a disgrace. I knew the government would try to sweep it under the rug. Absolutely incompetent people in these jobs. I read Goldberg's article and he got more than one text on different days. They can stop with the gaslighting. Hegseth is in way over his head. Thanks, Joyce. Glad we're in this together!
So this is how it is, eh? If Goldberg hadn't been on the Signal chat and revealed it in an article --- the discussion of classified information --- and highly classified operational plans at that --- and to all intents and purposes in the wild and moreover after a Pentagon wide warning about using Signal --- it simply wouldn't have taken place. Presto chango! Nothing to see here. Yeah, that's the ticket. They can't even obfuscate and lie professionally. What a bunch of third rate cosplaying losers. Ah well, it's only our "losers" and "suckers" Demento and his band of lunatics would put in harm's way.
And now it’s being reported that President Trump's Ukraine and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow at the time that he was on the chat. I’m sure it would have been intercepted.
It’s too bad Congress most likely won’t call Jeffrey Goldberg so he can show what was on his phone so all of those Government idiots on the chat can be exposed as the liars that they are.
I do not understand why charges have not been brought against each, and every one of these unbelievably incompetent, stupid, and traitorous people. Each one of them is an accomplished liar, as is our felonious president. This is so absolutely unconscionable.
It's very easy to understand why Hegseth and the rest of the Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight (with apologies to gangster Joe Gallo) won't be charged for *any* of this, or anything else they do with Trump in the White House.
These are federal crimes, The US Attorney for the District of Columbia is Edward R. Martin, who was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was appointed by Donald Trump. Even if Trump wanted to get rid of Hegseth and the other Cabinet Clowns involved in this incident, they're still unlikely to get charged for anything they've done because they know too much and would flip on everybody else in MAGA-world to avoid jail.
Who has the initials JG that not a single person in this chat assumed the reporter was? Certainly they should have looked over who was included on the chat and called out an u known participant.
Guess they thought it meant Junior Grade and figured it was someone there to take notes? The fact that everyone was not asked to identify themselves before the discussion began is equally disconcerting. An entire cabinet of INEs - Intelligence not essential; in fact, discouraged.
That’s not how a true record is made at all, with no recitation of the persons present. I think it was an intentional event on signal to make sure there was no retrievable record.
Then on an unsecured line, anyone can just drop in. yes? That seems to be what happened, anyone can just drop in, because not one person questioned that unknown number. Identification would have helped. The line was not secured.
Someone suggested a trade rep but I can't imagine why a trade rep, or Susie wiles, would be needed.. No pentagon brass so maybe someone from there? Or maybe slippery finger typo.
Bigger question is why no one checked who was on thread at all.
Joyce,
I absolutely agree. I spent nearly 40 years in the military, 37 as an officer in the Army and Navy. I have know too much and I will go to my grave holding secrets. What they did was absolutely irresponsible and dangerous to our military personnel. I have never seen such a clown car of fools running national security. This is a grave threat to our military personnel and our nation.
Thank you for your reporting and analyses. Be safe and watch your six.
Steve Dundas
I think that the possible worst thing of all this is that if they were using Signal for this, I’m betting they’ve been using Signal for a bunch of other stuff. And I’d bet more than one foreign govt knows all about everything discussed there.
I remember in Trump 1.0 he refused to have ethics training for his staff and cabinet. Most likely the clown car of national security leaders refused or ignored any training on protecting sensitive information. And yet we all remember "but her emails".
Hey, this is the guy who stashed his stolen classified papers by the toilet ...not even the golden toilet.
Cuz he's the guy who worships the golden calf.
they are all awful but Hillary was an idiot and wrong for using her emails the way she did. especially since she knew they were after her......
Had she done so how different our country might be right now.
Didn't Congress bring her before them to question for like 9 hours and then a decision was made regarding her actions? At the hearing today,all of them seemed to point to Pete, who conveniently wasn't there or at least I don't remember seeing him. Should he and Marco have to sit and be questioned for hours upon hours? Really odd that DJT is backing him - usually he throws folks under the bus (likely b/c he doesn't care)!
true, but hegseth is fox news
From everything I've read and heard, many who worked at Fox, thought of him as a man with a multitude of issues, including alcoholism. He's not on Fox anymore (is he)? Haven't Hannity and Watters taken his place, if he really had a "place" to begin with as he seemed only to be a weekend host. And neither of them don't seem to have a problem dishing disinformation and misinformation. I don't watch Fox so am not an expert. I have can baerly watch the evening news and a few programs hosted by others!
Have to remember they are not trying to defend the country, they are trying to destroy it.
It's the only way any of it makes sense. From the top down, every cabinet member is an unserious toady, with their orders to cripple the agency they've been given. What would tfg be doing any differently if he was overtly in Putin's camp?
I think you're right
https://handsoff2025.com/about
Then it automatically erase which is illegal unto itself
And they are all complicit. Why did no one sound the alarm that Signal was being used? And why didn't they recognize that the Mr. Goldberg was aboard? Were they reading the Signals while munching burritos or getting a pedicure?
It's been reported one of the participants, Witkoff, was in Russia, in Moscow, in the Krelin and didn't leave for an hour or so after the chat ended. We.Are.Not.Safe.
We lost our safety the day trumph was sworn in
2 goals are obvious privatize everything and sell America to the highest bidder
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VGp1ZsuCtS8
Pete Buttigieg took off his gloves and lets Them have it. Joyce is great too!
or having a cocktail?
Exactly
That's my concern also. I haven't verified this, but I read that using apps like Signal was encouraged in Project 2025 to avoid the legally required archiving of government communications. So god knows what else they are chatting about on unsecured lines. They simply don't give a shit about the law or the American people, let alone people of other countries.
Steve Witkoff, who was on the chat, was in Moscow at the time. You have to know that the Russians hacked into his phone. They hack into everyone’s phones.
Signal is not secure. This entire discussion should have been held in a SCIF, not in a phone app.
Totally
To me the worst thing is the possibility that Trump was telling the truth when he said he knew nothing about it. Also, as Susan Rice asked, was the acting Joint Chief on that thread? He didn't seem to be. For some reason, the secretary of the Treasury was on the thread but not the guy with the actual knowledge of how to pull that off.
And they bypass the archiving of national records. I wonder how much is being lost every single day since January 21, 2025.
I'm sure Krasnov is trying to make hard facts and documentation about his (second) time in office as scarce as possible
You nailed it.
Signal has end-to-end encryption and is the most trusted messaging service but it's possible that the devices being used by the people involved could have been hacked. That very possibility was serious enough. Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, was apparently participating in the chat while in a meeting with Putin in Moscow.
You may not have heard of Scott McNealy's quote: when asked about Internet privacy, he said "You already have zero privacy. Get over it." The corollary is, of course, that there is no security on the Internet.
Signal is about as safe as you can get. Not only does it use end-to-end encryption (WhatsApp uses this too) but the code that makes the app work is open source - meaning anybody can check it to make sure there are no vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit. The Signal Foundation depends on donations not advertising and they do not collect and store your data. If Trump sends the FBI to get your data from Signal there's almost nothing they can hand over. That's not true with WhatsApp, which is owned by that creep Mark Fuckerberg. It's regularly used by cybersecurity experts. However, if your phone is hacked when Signal is open then there's going to be a problem. The safety ends once the message has been received as we've seen in recent days.
This is what I wrote last night on my Substack https://dundas.substack.com/p/slippery-pete-hegseth-and-the-houthi
I suspect your right
after all they are our allies now.....
Thank you for your comment and for your many years of service. I have been calling the Trump Administration Trump's Clown Car Cabinet from day one. It seems that these unqualified, unfit individuals in TRump's service put us in harm's way more and more, every day. I've never felt more scared and unprotected in my lifetime.
You are welcome. Here is what I wrote last night, more to come…
https://dundas.substack.com/p/slippery-pete-hegseth-and-the-houthi
Thank you for your dedication and service. Your loyalty is appreciated.
Thank you for your service.
Steve,it would be so helpful if you and your veteran colleagues would call the representatives in your district, Senate and House, and impress upon them how serious this is and that veterans will remember. Itʻs so easy for one crisis to blur into another, but this one should not disappear. Steve Schmidtʻs essay on nuclear subs today definitely reinforces the dangers of having a "clown car of fools" at the head of our national security. And thanks to all of you for your service to our country.
Great idea.
I completely agree. Here is what I wrote last night https://dundas.substack.com/p/slippery-pete-hegseth-and-the-houthi
I do, trust me.
Thank you, Steve, for your commitment to our country and to the people in the military who sacrifice their lives, every single day. This critical incident could have been avoided and not been so disastrous had someone like been in charge of our Armed Forces. Nope, we got, the drunken Bryl-Creemed Christian Nationalist asshole at the helm!
I salute your service to my country, Sir. Here is an interview worth watching; twenty-six minutes. With a former aide to Vice President Pence. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/wtf-20-the-text-message-mess
I have one small glimmer of hope, since Mr Waltz had 'friended' Mr Goldberg prior to this pukadelic soiling of our security and our governance. Mr Waltz has a distinguished military record and, based only on a couple of interviews that I have watched on television, seems like a pretty level-headed guy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Waltz
Anyways, my hope is that Mr Waltz deliberately brought Mr Goldberg -- apparently a fine reporter who handled this delicate situation with discretion and respect for our younger brothers and sisters in uniform -- into the loop to precipitate just this kind of scandal that would end this dangerous practice, likely pursued elsewhere.
https://youtu.be/-vbghyhIZCk Although this song is 86½ year old, Artie Shaw (1910-2004) nailed the prevailing mood in 1938 as he does from the grave in 2025.
I had to look this one up: pukadelic. The closest I could get was "punkadelic". Might that be what you meant?
Otherwise, well stated and informative.
No. It is a Neddy neologism ivented forty-five years ago to describe the cinema of Woody Allen: pukadelic self-revelation. A bit out of context here. In the case, barfing out exhibitionism through a social medium.
I think, within context, “pukadelic” is a self-explanatory word and quite appropriate!
Thank you so much. Here is what I wrote last night while things were relatively fresh.
All the best.
https://dundas.substack.com/p/slippery-pete-hegseth-and-the-houthi
Thank you, Sir. It is late, but I will read your essay.
Thank you for your service. We will not let these few sully your dedication and those that served with you. We know exactly what these select few are and soon I think a lot more people will as well.
Thank you. Your kind words are appreciated. Here is what I wrote last night.
https://dundas.substack.com/p/slippery-pete-hegseth-and-the-houthi
I don't know this as a fact, but I bet that Congressional Republicans in intelligece committees agree with you, Steve.
Get them on the record. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
I bet that many do and I hope that they get out of their bunkers and start speaking out. Here is what I wrote last night.
https://dundas.substack.com/p/slippery-pete-hegseth-and-the-houthi
Thank you for all the likes. I appreciate you and Joyce. Here is what I wrote on my Substack last night if you are interested. https://dundas.substack.com/p/slippery-pete-hegseth-and-the-houthi
All the best.
I served only four years (1967-71), but in a part of the army involved directly in communications intelligence. I was required to have a very high security clearance for that work.
Several of my colleagues had their clearances removed for infractions far less blatant than this one (at least one was determined to have been at a party at which pot was smoked!). They were, as was the phrase then, ‘releasing to the department of the army’. Two of them were deployed immediately to Vietnam, and one ended up driving a truck in Alaska from Point A to Point B for the next three years.
Somehow I don’t expect Messers Waltz, Hesgeth, et al to have anything like that happen.
I know people who lost clearances for far less and were removed from their positions. This is what I wrote last night. Thank you and all the best.
https://dundas.substack.com/p/slippery-pete-hegseth-and-the-houthi
So dangerous
After all the constant and continuing fervor over DEI and incompetence … here the Master Race shows its mastery.
What if they did this on purpose? To evade a public record of the convo. Let Putin hear while one of them “just happened to be in Moscow” and learn to access how they use Signal. May as well announce a zoom call with the world now.
It WAS on purpose so the chat would disappear
And how many more have been done like this also
Even better question ❓
You got that right Nancy.
The "Signal Protocol" is designed to delete the allegedly disappearing Chat. There are known tech vulnerabilities. A lawsuit has been filed in DC federal court by the watchdog group, American Oversight.
See, federal Case No: 1:25-cv-0083 which pleads as follows against Pete Hegseth & 4 other individual defendants:
"SIGNAL messages are stored only on an individuals device with no copy or back-up of the message retained on the SIGNAL system or servers;" True.
So ... the automatic deletion programing is not a bug, it's a feature.
The American Oversight lawsuit continues:
"... this means the SIGNAL messages CAN [emphasis added] be preserved by the individual users through screenshots or other means but, once deleted, messages CANNOT [emphasis added] be restored or retrieved after deletion." True.
SPOILER ALERT: That is exactly what happened as reported byThe Guardian yesterday afternoon, 3/25. See, Andrew Roth's headline "Stunning Signal Leak ...". Roth posted a screenshot of the 11 "principals" SIGNAL message revealing the following dialog between J.D. Vance & Pete Hegseth:
J.D.Vance: "I just hate bailing them [the Euros] out again."
J.D.continues: "... there are some things we [U.S.] can do upfront to minimize risk to Saudi oil facilities ... we should do it."
Pete Hegseth : I fully share you loathing ...
[Note, The Guardian's screenshot cuts off after Pete's words "I fully share your loathing ...." Note further that other Platforms (The Atlantic) are reporting other content.]
************************************************************
Earlier in the news day, I took note that TULSI GABBARD refused to answer a direct Congressional Committee question about who among the 11 "principals" in the SIGNAL group used cell phones. GABBARD did not answer that question stating that the tech flaws were "under review."
We are on Professor Vance's "Civil Discourse" platform so I have a legal question:
Is the automatic "Mission Impossible" self-destruct feature an actionable violation of the federal Records Act?
But thanks to their stupidity in inviting a journalist, I'm sure it's still extant.
Susan, don't you just love the way ignorant Trump started whining about Mr. Goldberg even though it was Trump's own ignoramuses or agents for Putin who included Goldberg. It was great Goldberg, a good journalist, didn't release names of people involved beyond the "big wigs" to protect people. Clearly Trump et al didn't care one wit about any of them or our military folks. Disgraceful!
Possibly … though a bit “too smart” for Trump who, despite his pronouncements, seems to be unaware of anything beyond petty grievance.
I hope there is someone in the admin who will let us know if Trump is even paying attention. I get the impression that he golfs, and signs EOs, and posts on "Truth Social," but is otherwise disengaged.
I think you are exactly right. Beyond grift & graft, staying out of prison and settling scores, Trump could care less.
Well, he could care less, that is probably true - - but it would be difficult.
Trump? You think this was his idea?
No, he only thinks about his own personal life, he doesn’t give a damn about anyone else.
My very point. The only thing he cares about is staying free from prison, the graft to be had and punishing those who called bluff on his con(s).
Have to remember they are not trying to defend the country, they are trying to destroy it.
Everyone keeps wondering how they can be so bad at running a government.
They are NOT TRYING TO. They are trying to gut it as quickly as they can.
They are NOT WORKING FOR US! They work for the enemies of the US.
Well, sometimes it feels like I'm yelling, but to no effect. (Sorry.)
Ever feel that way? Am I talking to myself? Oh. Yeah. I am. :(
Question is, are you listening?
LOL Luv it! 😂
As someone said, if Trump *were* a Russian asset, he'd do exactly what he is doing.
And... he doesn't think it up himself. Someone feeds him notions.
As I commented on the last newsletter, national security is one of the top most frightening scares. What do you expect when you purposefully grant the most ignorant worst of the worst people the most important jobs....
Or, the purpose could be to "punk" Jeffrey Goldberg and then blame him for "leaking" the conversation.
As Ryan McBeth said in a YouTube short:
https://youtube.com/shorts/MH0vuVOLvfU?si=zxs0rmiJNK_ZBxtE
Ryan McBeth has some good info but in this short he blithely says "the journalist who leaked it."
There's a word for this kind of disinformation but I don't recall what that is.
Lies. Damn lies.
... and statistics.
Deflection
That's what i've been thinking, too.
David, I think Trump literally has no clue. It cannot be he by himself who put together that "clown car." He had a bunch of other stupid white men working with him. Yep, they sure are a master race, but we haven't figured out yet just what they are masters of beyond incompetence, disrespect, and contempt for the American people, oh yes, and a bunch of thugs. Maybe that is all they are.
Their lies today at the Senate hearing were remarkable for their shamelessness. They should be fired all
They should be in jail.
I like the way you think!
You gotta see this cartoon. In this case the picture is worth a million words.
https://kathleenweber.substack.com/cp/159871968
Oh my. Iʻm posting this on Bluesky and Facebook (even though I hate FB). This should be filed as an exhibit in Judge Boasbergʻs case.
GREAT cartoon!
Perfect! Air Force Guppie I.
Thank you! Nick Anderson often hits the mark, and this one is among his best that i've seen.
Donald only appoints the smartest most qualified people !!! 🤪
They even can dress themselves real good!
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/wtf-20-the-text-message-mess
POSTED ELSEWHERE: interesting interview of twenty-six minutes with a former national security advisor to Vice President Pence. The link above was embedded in the post.
"Important interview about this classified policy discussion over an 'encrypted' social medium that included a respected journalist.
"Olivia Troye served a the national security advisor to Vice President Pence. Her reasoned thinking shakes me to the bones in my pinky-toes. Thirty-six minutes well worth investing, if one is interested. Ms Troye and Mr Last drill down on some other key topics:
"> getting the boot from the five-eyes (if not already);
"> the absence of any understandable reason for this action; and,
"> the majority of people willing to risk everything for the good being women.
"MY FEAR. Team Treason did this deliberately so Putrid could join in on the fun. As Ms Troye and Mr Last point out, if this breach involved something as delicate as an attack with "clean op.-sec.", this practice is likely going on with many other deliberations.
"MY FAINT GLIMMER OF HOPE. Mr Waltz seems pretty level-headed to me. I am hoping against hope (with a 5% probability) that he deliberately brought a professional like the journalist, who showed discretion in breaking this story, to catalyze a scandal that would shut down, decisively, use of insecure channels across the trump terrain."
Interesting. As to your “optimism” about Waltz—Ruth Ben-Ghiat in her most recent posting mentions “Engineered Incompetence” as being part of the authoritarian’s arsenal. She means pols nominated for their supposed incompetence. I fear that’s at play here.
Good point. You bring to my mind my darker fear that has a higher probability: that this was deliberate so Putrid could get in on the fun. More likely for two reasons. 😰
1st, watching Deutsche Welle's daily newscast indicated that Mr Waltz was responding with emojis at least once. So my pollyanna probability goes down.🤬
2nd, apparently, if Jimmy Kimmel be accurate (and I believe him), that one of the participants in this chat was in Russia at the time. 😱
Yes, in Russia. Over an OTC app. Encrypted, supposedly, but enough to thwart Russian intelligence? I highly doubt it.
NitWitkoff was in Russia. Golly. Team Treason in full swing? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-envoy-steve-witkoff-signal-text-group-chat-russia-putin/
Vlad is laughing … heartily.
Perhaps the executive thinks that putting talking heads from the Fox propaganda channel into cabinet-level positions will earn him TV accolades, so there is no need to hire people with real expertise, and I'm sure he didn't even ask senior Republican members of Congress whom they would suggest for these positions.
Not entirely clear what Olivia Troye is saying here, due to the lack of context. I guess I should read the linked source. Just the same, if I understand at all what she was saying, it is inconceivable that an ignorant Trump appointee finagled a conference call on an inappropriate channel just to l'arn the other ignorant Trump appointees that they should stop doing that.
I'm reminded of the old Far Side comic, where the alien standing at the top of the stairway is looking down at his colleague sprawled at the foot, and saying "Wonderful, wonderful. So much for instilling in them a sense of awe."
I think you mean "the Mastur race mastur***ing"
As an old Marine I advise no young women or men to join any military service until we have a new Commander in Chief, SecDef, VP, and director of intelligence, etc. These self serving clowns will get your ass killed because of their ignorant minded decisions.
SEMPER FI
Also, we cannot allow them to drop this. We have to keep it going , like they did with “her emails”. This is a BFD, it needs to be shown as such to all of the people in this country, whether they are his fans or not. This was a violation of the Espionage Act.
I am a proud Navy veteran and would never join under this clown car administration.
These ignorant civilians are playing with fire when it comes to our national security. As an Army veteran, it sickens me to see so many arrogant individuals play games with the security of our fighting forces. The American people need to make short work of this nightmare. Vote!0
Thank you for your service.
Reasonable advice, but as always, some go into the military thinking it is their only hope of getting somewhere in life, getting out of Mudville, learning a skill, getting a job. And they may still be right.
Rep. John Kennedy (R- LA) brushed off the incident by stating that the American people don’t care about this, as if that would make a difference. And why he believes we would not care— ask any military family what they think— is appalling in itself.
Contact all Senators and Representatives and let them know that we care deeply! Deeply!
I definitely will tomorrow morning!
Moses Johnson brushed it off too by saying the operation was successful.
You don't even need to ask a military family.
I'm a federal employee. If I were to discuss classified information like this on Signal, not only am I going to lose my job, I'm going to "get" to meet with very serious people who have the power to put me in handcuffs and make me wear an orange jumpsuit.
However, Rep. Kennedy is, sadly, correct This is important to us because we care, and recognzie the potential for very serious harm to US national security. We are able to think 2-3-4 steps ahead, without being over-the-top alarmist about it. The average Trump voter, and perhaps even a majority of Americans, IMO don't think like this. If they did, we'd have President Harris instead of this mess.
This kind of utter incompetence will only be important to most Americans, and to people like Rep. Kennedy, if it leads to something like the attack on USS Cole in 2000. Then it'll be a tragedy, and a major crisis that "demands answers."
The callous disregard for the citizens of this country they are elected to SERVE is appalling and angering.
I know people who think that this is a petty discussion when some decisions should be made to 'fix' the government. Like a brick wall in the middle of a race track....
Well, that Lousiana Kennedy is a downright racist pig, with or without his Oxford education.
Senator Cornpone, ya mean?
Sen. Leghorn.
did he really go to oxf ? he hides it well
I am very over mr. kennedy from loui-sianna 's folksy crap
That mush-mouth is appalling always. Somehow we have to make people see that this is not just about Houtis, just as the migrant deportations are not about removing dangerous people - it's rendition and can happen to any of us. It needs to be framed in a 'if this can happen in this situation, it can surely happen in a situation that hurts you too.'
How many more ways can fair-minded people be tested in explaining and confronting the malicious, mendacious, incompetent, careless and outright stupid nature of Trump, his administration, his sycophants in Congress and - no apologies here - and those who voted for him. Idiocy and peril were clearly foreseeable during the election campaign and people can twist themselves into knots blaming Biden, Harris and Democrats in general, but there is no way in hell that any person of sound mind and clear moral judgment could not determine that Kamala Harris was a far less dangerous and far more competent choice than Donald Trump.
I just watched (pointless curiosity!) a video of a recent cabinet meeting. Members were asked by Trump to talk about what they were doing. Each one spent their moment in the sun lavishing praise on Trump for his brilliance, his inspiration, his extraordinary vision, and his total mastery of the Presidency. I have never experienced such a revolting display of Bootlickery.
It looks like a scene from the Kremlin. Cockwomble did this subservient exercise the first time around, also.
People: please, contact Paul Weiss, and other lawfirms that are caving and tell them to grow a spine. I'm sure there are many good who work there, but they are cowards, leaving us to confront the released J6r's at our own cost.
Well put and true as are so many comments posted here. Trump should be impeached for the illegal things he has done since entering office and most of his cabinet secretaries' actions should be impeachable or at the very least replaced. They should all be gone and Vance too. He left the country in a hurry to be with his wife and child in Greenland. Apparently he wanted to vanish so he couldn't easily be asked questions.
“They should all be gone and Vance too. He left the country in a hurry to be with his wife and child in Greenland. Apparently he wanted to vanish so he couldn't easily be asked questions.“ But yes, of course! Haha!!!!!!!!….
and the crowd roared!....
Amen.
Mob movie meets middle school: These are the people running our national security—trading war plans in a group chat like it’s fantasy football. If there’s no accountability now, what message does that send to every soldier risking their life under their orders?
Our national intelligence system is FUBAR
If the conversation truly contained no classified information, Jeff Goldberg should notify them that he plans to publish full details of the conversation in the Atlantic. I suspect they would threaten him with prosecution, finding a reason to treat the information as not publishable for reasons of national security while trying to avoid the word "classified."
Harry Waizer -- Just saw him on the news saying since they are saying nothing was classified he is considering posting the entire conversation he was present for in the Atlantic.
I read that too.
NEW: Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic Released more of the texts: Trump Administration Live Updates: Newly Published Signal Texts Detail Airstrike Plans as Leak Criticism Mounts
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03/26/us/trump-news
Like any of the already public info on the planes’ departure times and specific itineraries are “state secrets” and can’t be revealed to a federal judge. A true clown 🤡 car admin.
Isn't this the same group who pitched a royal fit over Clinton using an unsecure email? Oh how the tables turn!
Exactly. Where's the brave and noble Lindsey Graham now?
Lascivious Lindsey is my senator down heah in South Crackerlina—he doesn’t know which side of his two faced pucker mouth to spew lies out of. He’ll probably rationalize it as “no big deal” saying that the incoming weapons, targeting, and timing weren’t classified — which it should definitely be. If it wasn’t classified that shows Hogsbreath & Co. to be absolutely incompetent and they all should be removed.
Lindsey is completely discountable, since he changes his position on everything, even day to day, with the political winds. Occasionally he tells the truth, but he has no commitment to the truth. All he wants is to stay around despite the Trump ascendancy, and if that requires fulsome praise from time to time, he's entirely good with it.
To be fair -- at least one goal of his for his service to his country is being fulfilled regularly: He gets to play lots of golf.
And wasn't he among the most upset about Hilary's emails? Can we believe anything that comes out of Washington?
Playing golf with Donald.
Exactly. Clearly one of the percs. And lots of rides on AirForceOne.
Same group that excoriated Obama for wearing a tan suit.
This is such a disgrace. I knew the government would try to sweep it under the rug. Absolutely incompetent people in these jobs. I read Goldberg's article and he got more than one text on different days. They can stop with the gaslighting. Hegseth is in way over his head. Thanks, Joyce. Glad we're in this together!
So this is how it is, eh? If Goldberg hadn't been on the Signal chat and revealed it in an article --- the discussion of classified information --- and highly classified operational plans at that --- and to all intents and purposes in the wild and moreover after a Pentagon wide warning about using Signal --- it simply wouldn't have taken place. Presto chango! Nothing to see here. Yeah, that's the ticket. They can't even obfuscate and lie professionally. What a bunch of third rate cosplaying losers. Ah well, it's only our "losers" and "suckers" Demento and his band of lunatics would put in harm's way.
Like teen’s sneaking booze from their parents’ liquor cabinet, this is not a one-off. They just got caught this time.
And now it’s being reported that President Trump's Ukraine and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow at the time that he was on the chat. I’m sure it would have been intercepted.
What????????
It’s too bad Congress most likely won’t call Jeffrey Goldberg so he can show what was on his phone so all of those Government idiots on the chat can be exposed as the liars that they are.
Can a ranking Democratic member of a House or Senate oversight committee call someone to testify under subpoena?
They could call him in a SCIF.
I do not understand why charges have not been brought against each, and every one of these unbelievably incompetent, stupid, and traitorous people. Each one of them is an accomplished liar, as is our felonious president. This is so absolutely unconscionable.
It's very easy to understand why Hegseth and the rest of the Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight (with apologies to gangster Joe Gallo) won't be charged for *any* of this, or anything else they do with Trump in the White House.
These are federal crimes, The US Attorney for the District of Columbia is Edward R. Martin, who was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was appointed by Donald Trump. Even if Trump wanted to get rid of Hegseth and the other Cabinet Clowns involved in this incident, they're still unlikely to get charged for anything they've done because they know too much and would flip on everybody else in MAGA-world to avoid jail.
Looks like nothing will done to hold any of these people accountable. But Her emails! 😡
Yes, they'll look back and blame Hillary if at all possible. Proving she was right about the Deplorables.
Who has the initials JG that not a single person in this chat assumed the reporter was? Certainly they should have looked over who was included on the chat and called out an u known participant.
Guess they thought it meant Junior Grade and figured it was someone there to take notes? The fact that everyone was not asked to identify themselves before the discussion began is equally disconcerting. An entire cabinet of INEs - Intelligence not essential; in fact, discouraged.
I think in this case INEs means that these scumbags are essentially not intelligent. Corrupt? Yes. Intelligent, honest, patriotic? No.
That’s not how a true record is made at all, with no recitation of the persons present. I think it was an intentional event on signal to make sure there was no retrievable record.
A lot of folks in that bubble agree with you. I do think this was just Business As Usual for the keystone kops kids.
Then on an unsecured line, anyone can just drop in. yes? That seems to be what happened, anyone can just drop in, because not one person questioned that unknown number. Identification would have helped. The line was not secured.
There are a couple. Can’t remember names right now.
maybe they're like most of america and can't read......
Someone suggested a trade rep but I can't imagine why a trade rep, or Susie wiles, would be needed.. No pentagon brass so maybe someone from there? Or maybe slippery finger typo.
Bigger question is why no one checked who was on thread at all.
Wiles and Miller are running the Oval Office to hide Trump’s dementia.
very possible