[chrisco255]

None of what they said was actually classified, and if the conversation included the president and vice president, then they inherently decide what is and is not classified. The power of the executive branch is vested in the president.

[mikeyouse]

This didn't age well..

1. The conversation didn't include the President. Here's the full participant list for that thread: https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:on5oeyw...

2. There was tons of classified material shared including specific flight times and weapons systems. Here's a helpful side-by-side on what operational details are by default classified as Secret: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandlaws.bsky.social/post/3ll...

[mullingitover]

Doesn’t matter, they were conducting government business on a clandestine private system with the intent of evading public records laws. Literally the crime they endlessly accused Clinton of.

[chrisco255]

They have to archive the messages and they have staffers in those chats whose job is to do just that. The Biden administration used Signal as well. It's perfectly fine as long as it's archived.

[mullingitover]

Two problems with this:

How were the staffers archiving the disappearing messages?

What evidence do you have that the Biden administration conducted official government business on Signal?[1]

If they were above board and legal with this they wouldn’t have forced their republican congressional oversight committee to drag them into hearings.

[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-cia-director-blames-biden-2...

[chrisco255]

Signal does not mandate that messages be disappeared, that's a customized setting. But there are multiple ways to archive including simple screenshots.

Here is CISA page updated last under Biden's admin:

https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/mobile-commun...

In the PDF on that page you'll see Signal recommended for communication.

[mullingitover]

From the article above:

> Former Biden officials, though, said that Signal was never permitted on their government phones.

> “We were not allowed to have any messaging apps on our work phones,” said one former top national security official on the condition of anonymity. “And under no circumstances were unclassified messaging apps allowed to be used for transmission of classified material. This is misdirection at its worst.”

The CISA advice wasn't telling public employees to use Signal for classified communications or communications subject to FOIA.

You're going to be completely unable to show me evidence that this was ever okay, because it wasn't.

[chrisco255]

Let me help you out from the CISA post:

"General Recommendations Apply these best practices to your devices and online accounts. 1. Use only end-to-end encrypted communications. Adopt a free messaging application for secure communications that guarantees end-to-end encryption, such as Signal or similar apps. CISA recommends an end-to-end encrypted messaging app that is compatible with both iPhone and Android operating systems, allowing for text message interoperability across platforms. Such apps may also offer clients for MacOS, Windows, and Linux, and sometimes the web. These apps typically support one-on-one text chats, group chats with up to 1,000 participants, and encrypted voice and video calls. Additionally, they may include features like disappearing messages and images, which can enhance privacy. When selecting an end-to-end"

Nothing in that chat was classified and to the extent that any of it would be, the President and his cabinet members ultimately have final say over what is and is not classified. They are the leadership.

The chat was a discussion mostly concerning opinions on the actions and high level logistics. Actual plans were distributed through CENTCOM.

It's completely ok because it's the President's cabinet. They run the government.

There is no authority higher than the president to determine the status of information.

[skyyler]

Are the reports of the chat making use of Signal's auto-deleting feature incorrect then?

[chrisco255]

Given that we all know the content of these messages, they are clearly archivable.

[skyyler]

We know the content of the ones that leaked this chat.

That doesn't mean they're being archived according to the law.

[vharuck]

The information they discussed is almost always classified. If somebody were to declassify it so that these discussions could take place on insecure devices at insecure locations, then it's gross incompetence. There's a reason this kind of information is classified.

This is like ripping the warning sticker off an oxygen tank and pretending that makes it safe to use while smoking.

[cjohnson318]

I'm pretty sure most of it was classified, which is why they chose Signal instead of WhatsApp.