Michael Waltz was troubled by the White House when he accidentally added a journalist to a sensitive chat on a commercial messaging app's signal as a national security advisor.
Now, when he quit his job, he raised a new question about using the White House for encrypted apps. Photos of him looking at his cell phone on Wednesday during a cabinet meeting reveal that he is communicating with his colleagues (including the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence).
The discovery of this new system comes when a Reuters photographer stood just above Waltz's left shoulder and took a photo of him checking his phone.
He was not using a privacy screen. When zoomed in, the photo shows a list of messages and calls from several senior officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Steve Witkov, special envoys negotiating on three fronts, stories of Israeli Hama, and tense dances about Ukradimir V.'s Putin and Iran's nuclear cooperation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard are also on his chat list.
The app Waltz saw as using on Wednesday looks similar to Signal, but in reality it's a different platform from companies that promote it as a way to archive messages for record-keeping purposes. This is important. Because one concern that arose when senior officials were using the app was whether they were compliant with federal record-keeping rules.
One of the advantages of signals is that they are both encrypted and can be configured to automatically delete messages. But it's a feature for users who want secure communication, but it's a problem for the National Archives as they're trying to keep records.
It is not clear whether Waltz began using the alternative app when he became a national security adviser or if he sued the government for failing to comply with the record law using Signal.
The actual version of Signal gets constant security updates and messages are encrypted until they reach the user's phone, but security experts have questioned how secure the alternative app is.
“This is incredibly stupid,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, a longtime member of the Senate Intelligence Email Committee. “The government has no reason to use counterfeit signals that raise obvious anti-intellectual concerns.”
Cybersecurity experts said the platform Waltz used was known as Telemessage. It holds a copy of the message, which is a way to comply with government regulations. The photo screen shows a request for him to check his “TM SGNL PIN.” The timestamp indicates that communication was as recent as the morning of the cabinet meeting.
Founded in Israel, Telemessage was purchased last year by Smarsh, a company based in Portland, Oregon.
The Telemessage platform accepts messages sent via signals, captures and archives them.
Security experts said the use of Telemessage raised many questions. Some said it appears that the company had previously routed information through Israel.
However, a representative from Smarsh said data from American clients had not left the US. Tom Padgett, president of Smarsh's enterprise business, said the information collected was not routed through a mechanism that “may violate the data residency commitment to our customers.”
Paget also said that the information has not been decrypted while it is being collected for record-keeping purposes or while moving to the final archive. Security experts said that every time information is lifted, a security vulnerability could be introduced. “We're not going off track,” Paget said.
Representatives of Smarsh have problems with the idea that their platform is a modified version of the signaling app. They said their platform would simply allow financial institutions and governments to gain communications across different channels and to comply with record-keeping regulations.
However, cybersecurity officials said questions remained about how Telemedge's platform worked and what vulnerabilities it could pose to signalling communications.
The signals are built on open source code, allowing other organizations to create their own versions that use the same encryption. However, Signal Messenger, the company that creates and controls apps, does not support alternative versions and actively attempts to block use.
Mr. Waltz's use of telemedge was previously reported by Publication 404 Media. According to the publication, the US government signed with Telemessage in December 2024 to archive signal and WhatsApp messages. A representative from Smarsh said they have been working with the federal government for 10 years but have refused to discuss specific contracts.
It is not clear whether the US government will audit telemesurges to determine how messages are processed and whether they can destroy or damage the end-to-end security of signals. Representatives of National Security Council staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A representative from Smarsh said they have granted a security audit.
Wyden said the US government and the Navy have developed secure communication tools that comply with record-keeping rules. Using a modified version of the signal is much less secure, he said.
“Trump and his national security team may post American combat plans on X at this rate,” Wyden said.
In response to the photo report, White House Communications Director Stephen Chong said in a social media post that “Signal is an approved app that will be loaded on government phones.”
As part of the lawsuit filed by US surveillance, government officials submitted a statement that signalling messages from the chat they prepared to discuss strikes over Yemen's Hooty militia can no longer be obtained.
Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of US surveillance, said he has concerns about the use of the revised app.
“While using a modified signaling app could suggest attempts that appear to comply with federal government record keeping laws, it actually highlights the dangerous reliance on informal tools that threaten national security and put service members at risk,” she said. “Americans have the right to transparency, they have the right to know that their leaders are following the law, and are not hiding behind unfair workarounds.”
