Donald Trump's security advisor allegedly used Gmail for official business
Members of the US government allegedly also conducted official business via Gmail. Security advisor Michael Waltz is already the center of the Signal affair.
(Image: PixieMe/Shutterstock.com)
High-ranking representatives of the US government have conducted official business via personal Gmail accounts – another case in which inadequately secured communication technology was used for government business. This was reported by the Washington Post, citing insiders and insights into the emails themselves. According to the report, the Trump administration's National Security Advisor, Michael Waltz, also conducted official business via Google's email service. He has already created the signal group for internal government exchanges about US military attacks that caused a stir last week – after he apparently unintentionally invited a journalist to join.
Military internals exchanged again
The US newspaper calls the use “the latest example of questionable data security practices by top national security officials”, and the use of Gmail is even more problematic than the use of Signal. The Washington Post does not specify whether the emails were encrypted, so the report gives the impression that this was not the case. This means that the content would not only be visible to Google itself, but also to potential attackers at various points along the way. According to the report, Waltz's emails were less sensitive and concerned appointments, for example. However, one employee had emailed about military positions and powerful weapons systems in connection with an ongoing conflict.
The US government itself has only half-heartedly denied the reports, with the newspaper quoting a spokesman for the National Security Council as saying that he had seen no evidence of Waltz's private email account being used. Nor did Waltz deny using it, but explained that he always uses his work email address in “CC” when he resorts to Gmail. Although this should satisfy the archiving regulations, it does not help to protect against unauthorized access. Government employees are informed about the communication channels intended for the exchange of classified information.
“But her emails!”
The revelations of careless communication practices by ministers and high-ranking representatives of the US government also come against the backdrop of Donald Trump winning his first presidential election with relentless attacks on his rival Hillary Clinton for allegedly negligent handling of official emails. According to the Washington Post, Waltz was among those who criticized Clinton's lack of legal prosecution particularly harshly. In the summer of 2023, he attacked the US Department of Justice for this on social media. It had already been determined in 2019 that Clinton could not be proven to have acted with intentional misconduct.
Waltz is already under pressure because of the Signal affair, in which ministers and high-ranking individuals exchanged secret information about US military affairs. This became public because a journalist, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was part of the group chat. His article caused a huge uproar, partly because those involved used an unauthorized app and thus made the leak possible in the first place. On top of that, this was apparently intended to prevent the legally prescribed archiving. According to US reports, Trump considered firing Waltz for this, but then decided against it because it could be considered a victory for the press.
(mho)