US journalist allegedly in secret group chat thanks to iOS function

The editor-in-chief of a US magazine was accidentally added to a group chat of senior US government officials because the US government's national security adviser saved his phone number incorrectly after a suggestion from his iPhone. This is allegedly the result of an internal investigation, reports the Guardian. The information comes from three anonymous people who are familiar with the matter. According to the report, the presence of journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was the result of several errors, the basis of which had already been laid during the US presidential election campaign. The investigation could therefore have contributed to the fact that US President Donald Trump did not dismiss Michael Waltz.

According to the British newspaper's summary, the affair began with an email from Jeffrey Goldberg to Donald Trump's campaign team in October. The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic had sent questions about statements made by the candidate about injured military personnel. Trump's spokesman Brian Hughes had copied the content of the email –, including the signature –, and sent it to Waltz by text message to prepare him for it. He had not contacted Goldberg and had probably forgotten the message. Instead, the iPhone later suggested adding Waltz's telephone number to Hughes' entry. He is now the spokesperson for the National Security Council.

According to the report, a function in iOS that has existed for years is responsible for this suggestion, which suggests adding phone numbers from emails to a contact if it assigns them to them. Waltz had not noticed the error and then had Goldberg's phone number in his iPhone under the name Brian Hughes. When he set up the chat group about the attacks on Yemen, he then accidentally added the renowned journalist. Cybersecurity expert Thomas Rid explains that it must have looked to Waltz that Hughes belonged to the chat group – for everyone else, the contact would have appeared as "JG".

Private devices unsuitable for secret meetings

The explanation makes it clear why private smartphones with their changing functions and different applications are not authorized for such meetings and why there are specially secured communication channels for this purpose. Goldberg was ultimately able to read secret information about military strikes on Yemen in the group. It is now known that group chats on Signal are even more widespread in the US government. There are also suspicions that the messenger is also used there because it allows the legally prescribed archiving obligations to be circumvented. For example, the group chat on Yemen was set to automatically delete posts.

The behavior of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was particularly active in the chat, is now being investigated by the Pentagon. US President Donald Trump, who was not part of the group chat, has publicly backed the members time and again. According to US media, however, he considered firing Waltz over the affair, but then decided against it because it could be seen as a victory for the press. The internal investigation report could also have helped Waltz. Waltz was also one of those in US politics who criticized the lack of legal prosecution of Hillary Clinton in the so-called email affair particularly harshly.

(mho)