Waltz’s team established over 20 Signal group chats for global crises
This article provides a deeper insight into the app's usage than was previously reported, revealing how frequently the national security team of the Trump administration depends on Signal.
TroibNews 
National security adviser Mike Waltz's team frequently organized discussions on Signal to manage official work related to various issues including Ukraine, China, Gaza, Middle East policy, Africa, and Europe, according to four individuals who have been added to these Signal chats.
Two of the sources indicated they had direct knowledge of at least 20 such discussions. All four reported instances where sensitive information was shared.
This indicates a more extensive use of the app than previously known and highlights the Trump administration's national security team’s reliance on Signal—a publicly available messaging application—for conducting their work.
“It was commonplace to stand up chats on any given national security topic,” remarked one participant, noting that these groups typically included Cabinet members and senior staff.
The anonymity of all four individuals was granted because they were not authorized to make public comments regarding the private chats.
Veteran officials in national security have expressed concerns that this practice could potentially breach regulations meant to protect sensitive national security information from foreign adversaries, as well as federal recordkeeping laws if the chats are set to auto-delete.
NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes pointed out that Signal is permitted on government devices and is automatically installed by some agencies on their employees' phones. He also emphasized that the app has been used by officials in both the Biden and Trump administrations.
“It is one of the approved methods of communicating but is not the primary or even secondary; it is one of a host of approved methods for unclassified material with the understanding that a user must preserve the record,” Hughes explained. “Any claim of use for classified information is 100 percent untrue.”
None of the four sources were privy to whether classified information was shared, but all noted that the group chats included sensitive details regarding national security activities.
The Wall Street Journal had previously reported on other NSC Signal group chats, beyond the one focused on Yemen reported by The Atlantic initially. These new developments reveal that the NSC's use of Signal is widespread and integral to their operations.
“Waltz built the entire NSC communications process on Signal,” stated another participant in multiple group chats.
Waltz’s extensive use of Signal for NSC coordination has faced public scrutiny following an incident in which he accidentally included a journalist in a Signal group text about military strikes in Yemen, leading to significant political backlash and calls for President Trump to remove Waltz from his role.
Waltz and the incoming NSC team began utilizing Signal extensively during the transition before the inauguration and have continued to do so, according to another participant.
“This is a bunch of folks who have never been here before and couldn't switch from campaign mode,” remarked a fifth individual, a former Trump administration official.
Since the emergence of the Signal chats, Waltz and his team have also faced criticism for using personal Gmail accounts for government correspondence, as reported by The Washington Post. The NSC confirmed that Waltz and his staff did use Gmail accounts but asserted this was done to comply with federal records retention requirements and that Waltz never transmitted classified information through unsecured platforms.
Much of the controversy regarding the Yemen chat group revolves around the sensitive operational details that were reportedly shared. In the Yemen group chat, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth communicated military strike plans and sequences for U.S. airstrikes against Iran-backed Houthi militants. Experts and some current officials have stated that the information shared by Hegseth likely qualified as classified, though the White House has attempted to minimize the perceived sensitivity of the content.
On Tuesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent letters to several members of the “Houthi PC small group” Signal chat, requesting their appearance before Congress for transcribed interviews as part of an investigation into possible security breaches linked to Signal use.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, the leading Democrat on the Oversight Committee, expressed in the letters that the Signal group chat “raises immediate and deeply alarming concerns about the misuse of unsecured communication platforms” and “the reckless dissemination of potentially classified material.”
Navid Kalantari for TROIB News
Two of the sources indicated they had direct knowledge of at least 20 such discussions. All four reported instances where sensitive information was shared.
This indicates a more extensive use of the app than previously known and highlights the Trump administration's national security team’s reliance on Signal—a publicly available messaging application—for conducting their work.
“It was commonplace to stand up chats on any given national security topic,” remarked one participant, noting that these groups typically included Cabinet members and senior staff.
The anonymity of all four individuals was granted because they were not authorized to make public comments regarding the private chats.
Veteran officials in national security have expressed concerns that this practice could potentially breach regulations meant to protect sensitive national security information from foreign adversaries, as well as federal recordkeeping laws if the chats are set to auto-delete.
NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes pointed out that Signal is permitted on government devices and is automatically installed by some agencies on their employees' phones. He also emphasized that the app has been used by officials in both the Biden and Trump administrations.
“It is one of the approved methods of communicating but is not the primary or even secondary; it is one of a host of approved methods for unclassified material with the understanding that a user must preserve the record,” Hughes explained. “Any claim of use for classified information is 100 percent untrue.”
None of the four sources were privy to whether classified information was shared, but all noted that the group chats included sensitive details regarding national security activities.
The Wall Street Journal had previously reported on other NSC Signal group chats, beyond the one focused on Yemen reported by The Atlantic initially. These new developments reveal that the NSC's use of Signal is widespread and integral to their operations.
“Waltz built the entire NSC communications process on Signal,” stated another participant in multiple group chats.
Waltz’s extensive use of Signal for NSC coordination has faced public scrutiny following an incident in which he accidentally included a journalist in a Signal group text about military strikes in Yemen, leading to significant political backlash and calls for President Trump to remove Waltz from his role.
Waltz and the incoming NSC team began utilizing Signal extensively during the transition before the inauguration and have continued to do so, according to another participant.
“This is a bunch of folks who have never been here before and couldn't switch from campaign mode,” remarked a fifth individual, a former Trump administration official.
Since the emergence of the Signal chats, Waltz and his team have also faced criticism for using personal Gmail accounts for government correspondence, as reported by The Washington Post. The NSC confirmed that Waltz and his staff did use Gmail accounts but asserted this was done to comply with federal records retention requirements and that Waltz never transmitted classified information through unsecured platforms.
Much of the controversy regarding the Yemen chat group revolves around the sensitive operational details that were reportedly shared. In the Yemen group chat, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth communicated military strike plans and sequences for U.S. airstrikes against Iran-backed Houthi militants. Experts and some current officials have stated that the information shared by Hegseth likely qualified as classified, though the White House has attempted to minimize the perceived sensitivity of the content.
On Tuesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent letters to several members of the “Houthi PC small group” Signal chat, requesting their appearance before Congress for transcribed interviews as part of an investigation into possible security breaches linked to Signal use.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, the leading Democrat on the Oversight Committee, expressed in the letters that the Signal group chat “raises immediate and deeply alarming concerns about the misuse of unsecured communication platforms” and “the reckless dissemination of potentially classified material.”
Navid Kalantari for TROIB News
