Ready, Fire, Aim/Rev 3

Photo: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

This pix shows it all. Agent Orange, drifting off toward the land of dementia or Alzheimer's and Captain America, looking patently ridiculous in trying to show the world's he's in total control, indirectly points out the fact this administration's not only evil but also blindingly incompetent to the max, this time in using Signal to tell senior officials top secret details of an op done against the Houthis, a group proving to be truly innovative in waging asymmetrical war against the west and US in the Red Sea in supporting the Palestinians in the ongoing genocide being perpetrated against them by the Israelis in Gaza.   

Houthi supporters in Sanaa protesting against Israel's blockade of aid deliveries to Gaza

It's not just the Situation Room or Signal — senior Trump administration officials bypassed a range of secure government systems when they decided to discuss plans for an upcoming attack in Yemen on a commercially available app.

Axios spoke to one current senior U.S. official and five former senior U.S. officials — all of whom have taken part in communications around similarly sensitive overseas operations — about the secure channels through which these conversations are supposed to happen, why turning to Signal could seem appealingly expedient, and why doing so is potentially dangerous.

What they're saying: "It's shocking. It's shocking negligence," a former senior defense official said. "We've got the best secure communication systems in the world — of any country — so why are we using a rickety, commercially available system?"

The former official said Signal is "not even in the same universe" as the Pentagon's JWICS intranet, through which some of the country's most delicate intelligence is shared.

Why incompetence & lying rule in the land of Trump.

• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the app
  "the most secure and efficient way to communicate."
• But security experts consider communicating via Signal, particularly from a personal device, far less secure than using a classified government channel.
• The White House and National Security Council did not respond to requests for comment.

Those conversations didn't need to happen on Signal, or on personal mobile devices. The current official noted that many of the officials on the Signal chat have SCIF's in their homes, making moving to a classified setting relatively straightforward.

Note. Signal's a great app, this is not the issue, security is.

A darker reason for using Signal may be the time frame for messages to be retained. 

To whit. 

Signal allows users to set messages to disappear after a period of time, ranging from seconds to four weeks, while secure military communication systems have data retention policies that vary based on the sensitivity of the information and legal requirements, potentially retaining data for much longer periods. 

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Signal:

Disappearing Messages Feature:

Signal offers a "disappearing messages" feature, allowing users to set a timer for messages to be automatically deleted from all participants' devices. 

Timeframe Options:

Users can choose a timeframe for messages to disappear, ranging from a few seconds to up to four weeks. 

User Control:

The user has control over when and for how long messages are retained. 

Potential Concerns:

This feature raises concerns about compliance with federal record-keeping laws and the potential loss of critical intelligence. 

Secure Military Communication Systems:

Data Retention Policies:

Military communication systems have data retention policies that are designed to ensure the preservation of critical information and compliance with legal requirements.

Longer Retention Periods:

These systems may retain data for much longer periods than Signal's disappearing messages feature, potentially years or even decades, depending on the nature of the information.

Security and Compliance:

These systems are designed to ensure the secure storage and retrieval of sensitive information.

Customizable Policies:

Data retention policies can be customized based on the specific needs of the military or government agency. 

Any questions?