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.”
The guy is a moron. He’s clearly demonstrated that he has no concept of information security on multiple occasions. For more than a year, it has been known the Signal has a weakness that Russia and others have been exploiting.
It’s really pretty simple. The hackers send a phishing email or text to the target with a specially crafted QR code. If the user is dumb enough to scan the code, and we all know Hegseth is dumb enough, then the hacker’s device will from then on be linked with the target users device and get a copy of every message sent or received. There is no way in hell that Russia, China, and anyone else who wants to isn’t already getting all his Signal messages.
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.
I never said it was an exploit. I said it was a weakness that was being exploited.
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.
Disagree. Every chat you are in should have a visible notification about how many linked devices are copied in the chat. The app is supposed to be about security, isn’t it? It’s a pretty big weakness in my opinion.
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 would be a helpful addition, and it sounds like it could be easily done.
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.
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.
The amount of unqualified idiots being handed out security passes like halloween candy is unfathomable
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.
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.
“[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,”
That’d be very swell, why do you ask?
is ‘espionage’ a new whisky distillery? Then he is def a big target.
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.
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.
That headline is a masterwork of obfuscation, softening an obvious fact by hiding it behind “fears grow”.
Even if they do get rid of him, won’t he be a vulnerability for years to come? Because of the position he was given, certainly not earned, he is privy to not only the details of current military strikes but also secret goals for future military projects. Right? I assume most people who have these jobs have a modicum of self-respect and patriotic duty. But couldn’t he just leak that important info to anyone even after he is fired?
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
Experts eating at roach infested e coli laboratory masquerading as a restaurant have this to say: I saw Pete handle food without gloves. It doesn’t inspire confidence in the establishment.
Target, he’s the eye of the bull.
Espionage? They are giving it away lol
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.
Come on down to Crazy Pete’s intel emporium! We’re practically giving this intel away!
Crazy Pete’s 😂
Obviously. Is there any point in history when the SecDef wasn’t one of the juiciest espionage targets in the world, regardless of who is filling the role at the time?
Yeah but how many times could spies bribe the person in that role with a 6 pack? You could let him pick what he wants from the gas station beer case and he’d probably give you all his passwords.
Ya, the headline is kinda bullshit. The SecDef is always going to be a top espionage target. The real problem is that, had anyone else who holds a security clearance been this slipshod with classified material, they would be in jail now. The two tiered nature for accountability for security violations demonstrates deep problems with the entire system.
