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Lawmakers press DOD witnesses on Signal/TeleMessage reporting and OPSEC after public hacks
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Summary
Members of the House Armed Services subcommittee pressed DOD witnesses about public reporting that TeleMessage — a vendor that archives Signal messages — was hacked, and whether that event exposed messages sent by U.S. officials.
Members of the House Armed Services subcommittee pressed DOD witnesses about public reporting that TeleMessage — a vendor that archives Signal messages — was hacked, and whether that event exposed messages sent by U.S. officials.
Nut graf: Witnesses said the department does not use the TeleMessage/SMART backup capability for DOD operational devices and that Signal on government-furnished equipment may be available for limited, unclassified use only; they said details about how the department captures or protects messages at higher classification levels require classified briefings.
Representative Whitesides asked whether TeleMessage backed up Signal messages outside the United States and whether that created a vulnerability. Ms. Harrington said, "The Smart capability is not used in the Department of Defense currently. We do have the appropriate availability to download on GFE signal, but we are not allowed to communicate any CUI on those devices, as per our instructions." She added, "Not to my knowledge" when asked whether the capability had been used during the prior administration.
Committee members pushed on seams across the executive branch and whether differing archiving or device policies at other agencies create risk when senior leaders communicate across organizations. Harrington said DOD mobile-device authorities cover only department devices and that the department is working with other offices to harmonize approaches across the whole of government: "My office actually is working directly with WAPO on that right now to ensure that we do."
Harrington declined to answer some operational questions publicly, offering instead to provide classified briefings. "At this classification, sir, I can't — I will give you a classified answer in response," she told Representative Whitesides, and later offered classified briefings to others concerned about operational procedures and protections.
Several members underscored OPSEC concerns for service members and families and asked for more rapid progress toward secure, convenient messaging that senior leaders can use without increasing risk to operations.
