I’ve been working on finishing a post about America’s math problems throughout its history that have weakened our democracy and deprived millions of their rights as citizens. Its an important discussion and a bit of a departure from the daily flood of five-alarm news stories that since January 20 we’ve been forced to swallow like a waterboarded prisoner. But the previously incomprehensible news story that Jeffrey Goldberg broke in The Atlantic is just too damn important not to write about and, more importantly, should be the spark we need to rise up against the existential threat to all Americans caused by the Trump regime. But first, for some context.
For those old enough to have lived through the scary years of the Cold War where the entire world lived on the knife’s edge of nuclear holocaust, Hollywood made dozens of movies and television series on the subject, and especially about the intelligence services, some serious and others in black humor. There were, for example, Fail Safe, Dr. Strangelove, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and all of the James Bond movies. John Le Carre and others wrote great books about the deadly intrigue among the rival intelligence services. And then there was Get Smart, Mel Brooks’s wonderful television series satirizing Cold War spies that pitted the inept American CONTROL agents against its Russian sounding and equally inept archenemy KAOS. Maxwell Smart and his sidekick, the Bond-like Girl, Agent 99, were equipped with all the latest gadgetry including Smart’s telephone shoe. Brilliant stuff. So, after Goldberg’s blockbuster story, I could not help but think about Get Smart’s wonderfully spoofy set piece of spy-tech; the Cone of Silence. Funny, not funny.
Much has already been written about the calamitous revelations from Goldberg’s story, and today the Senate even held a hearing on the matter. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Hegseth denied that war plans were texted on Signal, a statement if made under oath would be perjury, and deflected press questions and focused, instead, on calling Goldberg “deceitful” and a “so-called discredited journalist,” while Trump stated, “I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic; to me it’s a magazine that is going out of business.” He also said, as Trump always does when confronted with bad facts, that he knew nothing. Trump’s enablers in Congress have said we should just “move on,” as if its a big nothing-burger. Without any guardrails to hold NSA head Mike Waltz et. al. accountable for this “accidental” breach, like an enabled FBI and Justice Department to investigate how many laws were violated, Trump and the GOP are dissembling away in the hopes that it will all blow over.
But this likely wasn’t a one-off “accident.” Maybe it wasn’t accidental at all that Goldberg was included because someone on the text thread wanted him on the call hoping others wouldn’t notice, which no one did. Why would that happen? Maybe because someone wanted to out the fact that Hegseth and others were unlawfully using Signal to communicate about matters that by law were required to be on officially secure platforms and because they could erase their communications rather than archive them as the law requires. Including Goldberg assured that the fact they were unlawfully communicating would see the light of day.
It’s also too coincidental, at least to me, that just last week the fact that Musk was scheduled to receive the highest level briefing on America’s war plans with China was leaked to the New York Times causing the briefing to be cancelled and Trump once again saying it was all news to him. Maybe someone, or some people, within the government are still patriots and are doing their level best to protect America by exposing the Trump regime’s worst and most dangerous behaviors. Have I read too many Le Carre novels? Possibly. But, someone else please come up with a better explanation of what the hell is going on.
Look to see if Congress tries to get to the bottom of this by asking some basic questions. Have people at the highest levels of the government been unlawfully communicating on Signal or other unsecured platforms where their conversations can be hacked and erased? Did Trump know and, if so, when? Did he authorize this unlawful communication? This is a critical inquiry. After all, he was indicted for mishandling classified information. And before that, early in his first term he hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office and shared with him highly sensitive Israeli intelligence that jeopardized and compromised Israeli sources and assets. He has hosted Chinese diplomats, including Xi, in large gatherings at Mar-a-Lago which is unsecured and where, for Xi’s protection, Chinese security agents were present, a/k/a intelligence officers. Who the hell knows what Trump shared while currying Xi’s favor. And, what about Putin? I dare ask. Using his words, Trump isn’t exactly “a fan” of intelligence protocols.
What we do know, or will soon find out, is the Europeans and other important allies will no longer share their important intelligence because the United States is no longer trustworthy. This will have real life consequences as shared intelligence is integral to protecting America from its enemies and the next 9/11. A recent Foreign Policy piece explained:
“Starting well before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, Washington’s intelligence-sharing partners probably began to assess the need to become more reserved about what they can risk sharing with U.S. partners—and what to hold back. Partners will have observed with horror when, during his first term, Trump challenged his own intelligence services, posted a classified photo of an Iranian missile launch site, and eagerly shared secret intelligence with Russian officials. Fears of sharing sensitive information with Washington will have deepened radically following U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh, when it became clear that the United States now places a higher value on partnering with the Kremlin than the concerns of its European allies.”1
If the GOP in Congress, as well as the Justice Department and FBI, continue to choose loyalty to Trump over loyalty to America, look for more whistle blowing. In the end, hopefully there is no Cone of Silence large enough to hide the dangers that Trump and his dishonorable clowns are exposing us all to.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/27/trump-cia-allies-intelligence-sharing-five-eyes-trust/.