An encrypted messaging app called Signal is drawing attention and questions after top Trump officials — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance — allegedly used the service to discuss a highly sensitive military operation while inadvertently including The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in the chat.
On Monday, Goldberg published a piece in The Atlantic about how he was added to an 18-person chat on Signal earlier this month to discuss military strikes in Yemen, writing that at first he “didn’t think it could be real.”
The National Security Council said the messages seem to be “authentic,” in a statement to CBS News after the story was published.
The use of Signal to discuss sensitive military operations is raising questions about the app, including its level of security against hackers and other bad actors. It’s an app that many Americans may not be familiar with, given that Signal had about 70 million users in 2024, a fraction of the 1 billion active monthly users of Apple’s iMessage, according to the national security publication Lawfare.
President Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he had asked national security adviser Mike Waltz, who Goldberg said added him to the group chat, to “immediately study” the use of Signal by government officials.
Here’s what to know about the service.
What is Signal?
Signal is an encrypted service for text messaging, but it can also handle phone and video calls, making it a…
