Man, was I the only person not on the Houthi PC Venmo Group?!?!

As the White House/NSC stick to their story that nothing in the Signal chats was classified, The Atlantic said ok, fine and published them. (On Earth 1, on the Earth we used to live in, the operation, and its details would have been classified S//NF.)
#natsec #incompetence Original: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/signal-group-chat-attack-plans-hegseth-goldberg/682176/
No paywall archive: https://archive.is/yOcgU

The Greatest National Security Threat Our Nation Has Ever Faced Is Named Donald Trump.

He must be impeached, convicted, and removed immediately.

A reporter was added to a White House principals committee Signal group. No, that shouldn't happen, and government entities discussing classified information shouldn't be operating this way. Obviously.

"I have never seen a breach quite like this. It is not uncommon for national-security officials to communicate on Signal. But the app is used primarily for meeting planning and other logistical matters—not for detailed and highly confidential discussions of a pending military action. And, of course, I’ve never heard of an instance in which a journalist has been invited to such a discussion.

Conceivably, Waltz, by coordinating a national-security-related action over Signal, may have violated several provisions of the Espionage Act, which governs the handling of “national defense” information, according to several national-security lawyers interviewed by my colleague Shane Harris for this story."

The most bizarre part is Pete Hegseth texting "I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC”

#natsec #military #NSC
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/?gift=kPTlqn0J1iP9IBZcsdI5IVJpB2t9BYyxpzU4sooa69M&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

From the linked story: "The Air Force, in fact, had denied a request by Mr. Musk for an even higher level of security clearance, known as Special Access Program, which is reserved for extremely sensitive classified programs, citing potential security risks associated with the billionaire."

Access to a SAP is not a clearance, it's an authorization for access to information about a specific program. You need the appropriate clearance for it, usually TS, and your need to know is vetted by the SAP manager. If approved, you sign another NDA. You are then "read in" and when you no longer do whatever the work is, you'll be "read out." The SAP manager has only so many "billets" for people to get access to the program. Each SAP is known by its own codename. Your need to know is provided by, for example, some higher level leader who is read into the program who is adding you to do some specific thing.

The concern I have about Elon Musk's request to get access to an Air Force SAP is not that he tried. It's how did he know about the SAP and what to ask for. Who at a higher level was attempting to get him read in on something he might have had a conflict of interest in. We can assume it was some space related program. If SpaceX was not the contractor developing or supporting some capability, this could've been an attempt to gain information on a competitor.

Recall that recently the DOGE incels were said to have at least tried, if not succeeded, to get into the Pentagon's contracts database. This database, I cannot express how sensitive this would be for the USG and all contractors and programs in it, how illegal this access would be, and what a massive conflict of interest it would be for Musk. This access would be an incredible tool for corruption.
#coup #corruption #natsec
https://infosec.exchange/@Nonya_Bidniss/114200328239822985

Elon Musk to get briefing on China war plans? If so we are already on the tail end of the coup. It's like I threw 20+ years of my life protecting secrets down the drain. There was no reason for any of it. It was a waste. A majority of my neighbors, coworkers, family members thought national security was some kind of joke to be handed to an insane, foreign-compromised billionaire looking to convert the nation into an endless funnel for cash and a malignant narcissist Russian asset. #coup #corruption #natsec #InsiderThreats #treason
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/musk-pentagon-briefing-china-war-plan.html
No paywall/email wall: https://archive.is/eKBWL