Donald Trump officials use ‘Signal’ for military talks. What are ‘classified’ information and secure routes? Explained

The Donald Trump administration’s use of a popular messaging app to discuss sensitive military plans, with a journalist included in the text chain, is raising concerns about national security and the need to protect classified information.

As reported by the Associated Press, this situation highlights the distinction between classified and public information and shows that even encrypted apps like Signal can result in embarrassing leaks if proper security protocols aren’t followed by those involved in the communication.

What’s the difference between ‘classified’ and top secret’?

The Trump administration has stated that no classified material was leaked when senior officials used Signal to discuss plans for an upcoming attack on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, despite a journalist being included in the chat, AP reported.

However, even if the information had been declassified by the Pentagon, it still contained sensitive details that could have been valuable to the Houthis or other adversaries, highlighting how the decision to classify information can often be a matter of judgment.

The federal government routinely classifies vast amounts of information pertaining to military and intelligence operations.

Also Read: Signal President defends app security after Trump officials’ chat leak: ‘Signal is the gold standard’

The material in question spans a wide range, from highly sensitive items like top-secret nuclear programs and the identities of undercover agents to mundane records that would be of little interest to anyone, including America’s adversaries. For instance, in 2011, the CIA declassified its 1917 recipe for invisible ink.

Advocates for open government have long argued that the push for secrecy often goes too far, safeguarding information that could shed light on government activities or matters of public interest, such as UFO sightings and a decades-old presidential assassination.

While the public typically calls any information withheld by the government “classified”, that term only refers to the three broad categories used to “classify” information based on the need for secrecy: confidential, secret and top secret.

While files marked “confidential” contain information that’s not meant to be released, the need for security or access restrictions isn’t as great as for material considered “top secret”, which includes the nation’s nuclear secrets and other material that, if released, could pose a grave danger to national security.

While the Pentagon hasn’t offered classification details about the information in the Signal chats, information about upcoming military strikes is typically tightly guarded to ensure adversaries don’t have advance warning that could jeopardize the mission or put American service members at risk.

The Pentagon closely guards even some publicly available information.

Material categorised as “controlled unclassified information”, while not secret, is still considered sensitive enough that military service members are prohibited from discussing it on unsecured devices like personal phones.

Also Read: The Atlantic publishes full Signal chat as Trump Cabinet mocks at ‘classified war plan leak’

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were asked about that policy during a Senate hearing this week as they were grilled over the Signal chat.

Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona noted that the Department of Defence policy “prohibits discussion of even what is called controlled unclassified information on unsecured devices”, and asked if Ratcliffe and Gabbard, who oversees the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies, were aware of that rule.

“I haven’t read that policy,” Gabbard said.

“I’m not familiar with the DOD policy,” Ratcliffe said.

Who decides to classify or declassify something?

The power to classify or declassify lies in the hands of top federal officials, including the president and Cabinet secretaries. For military information like the attack plans discussed over Signal, the power lies with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has faced demands that he resign over the leak.

Also Read: Top US Intel Officials Defend Signal Chats Seen by Journalist

The president’s authority to declassify information has often been cited when presidents are accused of mishandling sensitive materials. Kash Patel, a Trump ally and now the FBI director, claimed to have witnessed Trump declassify material taken after his first term to Mar-a-Lago, but no evidence has surfaced to support that assertion.

The Pentagon has not clarified whether the attack plans discussed by Hegseth on Signal were declassified before or after the conversation, but both Ratcliffe, Gabbard, and the White House have all stated that the chats contained no classified information.

“I haven’t participated in any Signal group messaging that relates to any classified information at all,” Ratcliffe proclaimed at one point.