Washington Post: After the Signalgate Scandal… The National Security Advisor in a new trouble
US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has been using his personal Gmail account for official correspondence, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
This scandal comes a week after a blatant security breach that rocked the White House, also involving Waltz, who mistakenly included a journalist in a top-secret messaging group he created via the Signal app to coordinate airstrikes against Ansar Allah (Houthis) in Yemen.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post noted that Google’s Gmail email service is less secure than the encrypted messaging service offered by Signal.
Waltz, who was the star of the scandal that became known as “Signalgate,” shared official but non-sensitive information on his personal email account, such as his daily program and other documents related to his work.
In contrast, one of his colleagues used Gmail to conduct highly technical conversations with colleagues in other departments regarding sensitive military sites and powerful weapons systems associated with an ongoing conflict.
The Washington Post explained that it based its information on interviews with three officials and reviewed emails sent from Waltz’s office, but the National Security Adviser was quick to deny any leak of classified information.
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement that Waltz “never sent classified documents to his personal email account or to any unsecured platform”.
Before the new case was revealed, President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, Caroline Levitt, responded to a question about the “Signalgate” scandal by saying, “The case has been closed, and the president still has confidence in his national security advisor”.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump accused his rival, Hillary Clinton, of using her personal email account instead of a secure government server for official correspondence when she was Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013.
