Ed. Note: Following on the lead from DA global, DAGR has started a couple of groups on Signal. The Communications committee shares work there, and the ExCom has recently been moving over into the app. We are on the verge of setting up a group where the whole membership can exchange ideas. And along comes this Trump gaffe and the notion that Signal isn't secure. Actually, it's fine for work at our level. It was approved for non-sensitive exchanges during the Biden admin. It has NOT been appoved for classified conversations! And that's where the Trump admin falls way short of 'professional'.
Just as Dems Abroad was making a transition to Signal, along came Signal-gate and all the noise of this week. Let’s take a look at it.
Why Signal, DA? Well, behind all the websites, videos and newsletters, a lot of work and planning takes place in chat apps. It happens at the global, regional and country levels.
Whenever someone thinks they need to chat instead of ‘bothering everybody else with a gazillion emails,’ they start a group. In their favorite app. Back in the aughts, there were two Yahoo groups. As DA grew and projects multiplied, volunteers began chatting on Skype, Facebook Messenger, Google Groups, Slack, and, of course, WhatsApp and Mobilize.
Some of us complained. It took us more time to find where we’d got that message about ‘turn paragraph 3 into bullet points’ than it did to actually do the work. IT looked for a better app, and Signal was recommended.
Signal was selected because it’s simple to use. You can drop in a web link or a quote or a photo. Easy. It’s ‘open source,’ so it’s free. But the main thing is, it’s end-to-end encrypted. No one who’s not in a group can see what’s posted there. And that’s important!
Strategy and planning … well, you don’t want random Republicans Overseas popping in. Likewise, there’s a group where members can openly chat about the foreign affairs and military issues that are not discussed in public DA spaces. (Drop a line to the DAGR Secretary and she’ll help you contact that group.)
Now, back to the dimwits in DC who thought it would be cool to share war plans in a Signal chat.
On the surface, that’s just dumb. They all have scifs for classified conversations. Why didn’t they use them? Why did someone accidentally add a journalist to the group? Why did they carry on the conversation when one of the members was currently in Moscow?
Signal is pretty airtight for average bears and hackers. But as an IT guru once explained, any program can be hacked. It just depends on how valuable the information is and whether someone’s willing to pay the price. In this case, you might think someone in the geopolitical power game might be willing.
At DA level, volunteers trying to get a job done, etc, Signal is probably just what we need. And it’s safe enough for our purposes.
Why the Cabinet duh-cowboys played so fast and loose with it, well, that’s another question. Sheer stupidity? Or was it just another planned blast from the firehose?