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Comment by celticninja | Hacker News Reader

All the security in the world cannot combat incompetence.

Signal, whether it is secure enough for govt to use or not, is beside the point. These idiots didn't even check the group chat participants before discussing really sensitive information. Which means they don't undertake these sorts of checks by default.

"If you design something to be idiot proof, the universe will design a better idiot."

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Even if all individuals are properly cleared and have a need to know, Signal is not an authorized method of communication for work-related materials.

In a Senate hearing today, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said, under oath: “One of the first things that happened when I was confirmed as CIA director was Signal was loaded onto my computer at the CIA, as it is for most CIA officers. One of the things that I was briefed on very early, senator, was by the CIA records management folks about the use of Signal as a permissible work use. It is. That is a practice that preceded the current administration to the Biden administration.”

Signal is great. But if your employer has rules that require retaining messages, Signal isn't usable because it doesn't do that.

Indeed.

I recall widespread and protracted calls for imprisonment, several years ago, for storing government e-mails on a private server. They have gone silent.

The government response:

- You're telling me about this for the first time. (President Trump)

- It's a hoax. (SECDEF Hegseth)

- Nobody discussed war plans. (SECDEF Hegseth)

- Nobody should lose their job over this. (Speaker Johnson)

- No classified information was shared and the journalist is a sensationalist. (Press Secretary Leavitt)

- The editor in chief of The Atlantic is a so-called journalist. (President Trump)

Ignorance (real or feigned), gaslighting, lies, character attacks.

So much for "The buck stops here."

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