Understanding the “Signal” App, and Why Democrats Are Hypocritical When It Comes to Mishandling Classified Info

Growing up in Maine, we know trust matters more than anything. We also tend to avoid hysteria – or always did. So, here is a dose of “calm” relating to the still active debate about the Trump White House and “Signal” app.

First, “Signal” is an end-to-end encrypted app, almost impossible to break, used by many people who want to avoid overreach by the government, Tik-Tok, Google, or any other entity. I use it.

Second, as a former Naval Intelligence Officer who held a TS/SCI clearance for a decade – Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information – allow an observation: Democrats are participating in shameless hypocrisy. Their latest antics take the cake.

In recent weeks, Democrats like Chellie Pingree (ME-CD1) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) have demanded Trump cabinet members be fired for misusing the ‘Signal’ app. Several literally yelled at Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe for sharing unclassified data on US military operations over “Signal.”

They have demanded Mike Walz, the President’s National Security Advisor, also on the encrypted chain, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth be fired. They “demand” to know “on what authority” the President granted these high-ranking officials their clearances.

This meltdown tells you a lot about modern politics, the desperation and duplicity now taking hold – boldly showcased – by a new, if deeply conflicted, out-of-touch Democrat Party.

Why? Four facts make the point how Democrats on this issue (and in general) are just lost hypocrites.

First, while classified information is typically shared verbally inside a SCIF – or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility – digitally on a classified “high side” network, or with security protocols, unclassified information is not subject to these protocols.

Second, Signal is highly encrypted. If hacked or intercepted, decrypting is virtually impossible, although “key compromise” and human error – including someone not intended on the receiving end – happens.

While Signal is not meant for classified information – things marked Confidential, Secret, TS, or SCI levels – it is viewed as “one of the most secure” means for confidential communication “in the world,” according to leading digital security experts.

So secure is Signal that some US agencies, such as USAID, actually include Signal in their “secure communication protocols.” Since 2023, the US government has relied on Signal for sensitive, unclassified communications. To assert the opposite is fake news.

US agencies have authorized two off-the-shelf “third party messaging platforms,” Signal and “Telegram,” part of “Automated Directives Systems.” (ADS). Whether they should or not is an operational and policy question – but they do and have.

Far from illegal, some agencies expressly authorize these “approved non-official” systems. Similar systems exist, such as “Threema,” “Wire,” “Viber,” and “Wickr,” with “military grade encryption.” No system, of course, is without risk.

Third, Congress is itself notorious for leaking sensitive, sometimes classified information to the press – on occasion deliberately, often recklessly. Congress has not only exempted itself from many laws, including individual privacy protections, but often gets briefed on classified operations, only to turn around and share them with the press.

In that category, countless news stories come to mind, an egregious one when then-Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was pre-briefed by President Reagan on a raid of Libyan targets following a terror attack, swearing all to secrecy. Leahy promptly held a press conference and told the world. Two brave US F-111 pilots were shot down as a result.

Fourth is the real hypocrisy: Not only does President Trump possess Article II power to grant clearances, but his inner circle – and every intelligence officer – must be vetted and go through a long, up to 18-month, “full field investigation” – for a TS/SCI clearance.

Congress? Zero vetting. Nothing. Nada, and full access to whatever they ask. So, left-leaning senators like Angus King, Ron, Wyden, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Chris Murphy, Kristen Gillibrand, Richard Blumenthal, and Tammy Baldwin? Left-leaning members of Congress, Pingree, Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, Talib, Jayapal, Raskin, and Nadler? They face ZERO investigation to assure their fitness for handling classified material, just get full access.

So, how hypocritical is it for high minded Democrats to attack President Trump’s power to grant clearances to those facing “full field” investigations, people like NSA Mike Waltz, DNI Tulsi Gabbard, SECDEF Pete Hegseth, and Vice President JD Vance, all combat veterans, or John Ratcliffe, federal prosecutor and CIA head?

Hypocrisy is seldom so shameless. Modern Democrats are all about it. But this one takes the cake.