Top White House officials have been caught using a less secure version of the Signal messaging app in recent photographs from Donald Trump’s cabinet meeting. The images revealed messages between Mike Waltz, the former national security adviser, and top officials like JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard, and Steve Witkoff. The chat app used, TM SGNL, is a modified version of Signal that allows message retention and archiving, potentially to comply with preserving presidential records. The modified Signal is created by a company called TeleMessage, known for creating clones of messaging apps with added archiving capabilities. Concerns have been raised about the potential compromise of end-to-end encryption on this modified app.

While the content of the messages sent by Waltz was not fully visible in the photographs, references to discussions with Rubio and Vance were noted. Additionally, indications of calls made to Gabbard and scheduled meetings for the president’s daily brief were observed on Waltz’s phone screen. Following the revelation, Trump reassigned Waltz as the UN ambassador and appointed Rubio as the acting national security adviser.

In response to inquiries, a White House spokesperson defended the use of Signal, stating that it is an approved app for government use and is installed on government phones. The incident underscores the ongoing challenges of balancing secure communication practices with regulatory compliance in high-level government settings.