Signal incident shows rules don’t apply to Trump loyalists

On March 24, The Atlantic published the details of a Signal chat between prominent members of the Trump administration, most notably the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, the vice president, the National Security Advisor and the Director of the CIA. We know now that the leaked information contained damaging discussions of a “pathetic” Europe that the U.S. was “bailing out.” Inexplicably, military operational details were also shared in the chat. By now, the public has learned new terms like ‘high side’ and SCIF (pronounced skiff) referring to the classified information network and the facility respectively.

The issue is not if the information was shared, though, initially Mr. Hegseth claimed that the entire story was made up and a hoax, but how was a journalist added to the group, were the details classified, and why was a commercial app that is not approved nor appropriate for such information being used in the first place?

During my 37 years of military service, I have never seen operational details such as the ones shared in the chat ever marked or considered unclassified. I have read and been briefed on our nation’s most guarded secrets, what Hegseth calls war plans. I have been involved in several discussions on matters of national security regarding our allies and partners. In two combat tours, a forward deployment to Ukraine and serving in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, such information is always classified.

It is true that the Secretary can declassify such information but that is the one explanation that has never been put forth by anyone involved in the chat. They have however attacked the journalist, The Atlantic, and offered that because the operation was a success we should all just forget that anything ever happened. Nothing to see here. The level of incompetence is staggering. But with Donald Trump it was never about competence. Loyalty is all that matters.

Not once did anyone think to say that Signal was an inappropriate platform to share any of the information, classified or not. Signal, even though it uses encryption, is considered a compromised communication platform, meaning that it is reasonable and highly likely that Russia and China are able to intercept and decrypt messages. It is certain that high level government officials are closely watched targets.

Surely, adding a journalist to the group was a mistake, but there is a process for the spillage of information. The person in question is generally relieved from their assignment, an investigation is initiated and their access to classified material is temporarily suspended. This is exactly what happened to a DHS staffer who shared unclassified but sensitive material over email even though she immediately reported it to her superiors and contacted the journalist who agreed to hold the story until after the ICE operation was complete. She is now being investigated and will likely lose her security clearance which means the loss of her job. Compare that to the absence of an investigation, no one was relieved from their duty and no one had their clearance suspended.

Recently we learned that Mr. Hegseth wasn’t just openly sharing classified material over Signal. In meetings with the U.K. Secretary of Defense, John Healy and another at NATO headquarters, Hegseth was accompanied into those meetings by his wife, Jennifer. Mrs. Hegseth may have some sort of security clearance but in such meetings attendance is based on a need to know. There is clearly no explanation why Mrs. Hegseth was present.

It is clear that two standards exist. If you’re a Trump loyalist then the rules do not apply to you no matter the circumstance. Hegseth has greatly weakened the role of the Secretary of Defense, placed our troops in danger and carelessly shared information in ways that would normally have Congress calling for his immediate firing. And we have nearly four more years of this stupidity ahead of us.

John Oakley, COL (Ret) Army National Guard, lives in Cedar Rapids.