POTENTIAL VIOLATION OF LAW
The sharing of possibly top secret information is compounded by the use of Signal, an open-source commercial messaging app with end-to-end encryption, that is not authorised for transmitting sensitive government information and is vulnerable to hacking.
This places Mr Hegseth and Mr Waltz in potential violation of the executive order for failing to ensure that classified information is transmitted “under conditions that provide adequate protection and prevent access by unauthorised persons” such as Mr Goldberg, who possessed neither the necessary security clearances nor the need-to-know.
The US Espionage Act allows for the prosecution of “gross negligence” in mishandling “national defence information” that need not be classified, and carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison.
Mr Hegseth and Mr Waltz are unlikely to face charges, however, as prosecutions for unintended disclosures by senior officials are rare.
In 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation probed US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s use of a private email server for handling classified information. Though the FBI discovered numerous violations of security protocols and found her actions “extremely careless”, it did not file charges because there was “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information”.
In the present case, neither the US Department of Justice nor the FBI have demonstrated any inclination to launch criminal investigations. So far, only two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote to the Pentagon to request an investigation to determine what was communicated and any remedial action to be taken.
The use of Signal also raises concerns about oversight, transparency and accountability, and possible attempts by senior Trump officials to circumvent federal record-keeping requirements, given that screenshots of the message thread show that the app’s disappearing message function was set for one week.
A watchdog group, American Oversight filed a lawsuit alleging that the use of Signal violates the Federal Records Act. The judge ordered that all chat group messages pertaining to the Houthi strikes be preserved pending a judgment.
