The Washington Post reveals that a Michael Waltz advisor used Google’s email service to have highly technical conversations with colleagues from other government agencies. It was not the only
First included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of “The Atlantic” magazine, to a sign in the signing application in which they detail the plans for the bombing in Yemen, it is now known that members of the Donald Trump National Security Council including White House National Security Counselor, Michael Waltz-discussed governmental email accounts, Google’s service accounts, Gmail.
The new scandal that seems to compromise data security in the United States is being reported by the newspaper, which had access to documents and interviewed three sources of Trump administration.
This seems to be the second act of the disastrous relationship between members of the Trump Administration and cybersecurity, in a case that may be even more severe than the signal incident, because Gmail is a much less secure communication method than the application of encrypted messages.
It is the latest example of questionable data security practices by the highest members of the National Security Council, which in itself was already under fire. The Washington Post details that one of Waltz’s advisers used email service to have highly technical conversations with colleagues from other government agencies. Among the topics discussed were sensitive military positions and conflict -related weapons systems in the Middle East. The responses of colleagues from other agencies all were sent through accounts issued by the government, the US newspaper said.
Michael Waltz himself received less relevant information through personal but “potentially exploitable” email, such as his own agenda and other work documents, Trump’s employees told Washington Post.
The sources heard by the newspaper explain that they have done so on anonymity and because they have felt the duty to expose the one who consider it to be a problematic treatment of information.
The use of personal e-mail, even for non-classified material, is risky, given the amount that foreign information services attribute to the communications and times of high US government officials, as is the case of the National Security Counselor, experts said to the US newspaper.
This is a theme that already has history in the US. In the first election of Trump to the White House, the campaign was marked by the case of Hillary Clinton’s emails, and the now targeted Michael Waltz has long led to the importance of confidential information and hardly criticizes the Justice Department for not having sued Trump’s 2015 opponent for using a private email server while secretary of state in Obama administration.
“What did the Justice Department do about it?” Waltz wrote on social networks in June 2023.
US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes has also reacted to this new controversy with Waltz. Hughes says he has not yet seen any proof that US National Security Counselor has effectively used personal email as described.
Hughes also adds that when “old contacts” send him work-related communications, Waltz was always made sure that his government email was in “CC” to ensure compliance with federal registration laws, which require officials to file official correspondence.
“Waltz did not send and would not send confidential information on an open account,” says Hughes.
Asked about the fact that an advisor to Waltz discussed sensitive military matters through Gmail, Hughes recalls that the National Security Council has indications to use “only safe platforms for confidential information.”
In addition to the attacks against the Houthis rebels and this one of the emails on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Waltz has created other chat groups on sign members of the security office on various sensitive themes beyond the attacks in Yemen, including the situation in Somalia and the Russian war in Ukraine.
Hughes emphasizes, however, that the sign “is approved and, in some cases, is automatically added to government devices.” However, he acknowledged that it is not supposed to be used for confidential material and insisted that Waltz never used it as such.
