Washington – Right after that revelation The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief has been carelessly added signal When chatting with top Trump administration officials about Yemen’s attack plans, some of those officials began modifying or deleting their Venmo accounts. At least one account remained public one day after the Atlantic Report.
Venmo, an internet-based mobile payment service owned by PayPal, can also view user contacts if you do not change your privacy settings, so you can enable users to send and receive money quickly.
National security experts argue that public information could be exploited by foreign intelligence reporting agencies or other malicious parties.
According to screenshots taken by CBS News, the White House National Security Advisor Michael Waltz’s Venmo’s friends list was open to the public on Tuesday. This is the day after the Atlantic report on Signal Chat was released. On Wednesday, his account settings were changed and his contact details were kept private.
Waltz’s contact details regarding Venmo included journalists, government officials, active and retired service members, and members of Congress. There was evidence that the waltz had sent or received payments on the platform.
President Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wills was listed on the Waltz Benmo Friends list, but her account is no longer searchable. On Wednesday, Wired Magazine reported on the Waltz and Wiles’ Venmo accounts, saying that each account has been private after the publication contacted the White House.
“Venmo is a commonly used app, and Mike Waltz is making necessary updates to protect his personal privacy,” said NSC spokesman James Hewitt, who was contacted by CBS News on Wednesday.
This week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses, who faced a barrage of criticism this week for sharing details about USStrike on March 15th of Iran-sponsored Houthis, had an account in early March but has been deactivated since, CBS News learned.
In February, reporters for American Prospect, a progressive political and public policy magazine, discovered that Hegseth’s Venmo was previously published to view contacts he had on his phone with Venmo’s account. Among the contacts were Fox News defense contractors, UnitedHealth executives, fellow veterans and colleagues.
The Department of Defense did not respond to CBS News’ request for comment.
Joe KentThe Trump candidate, who runs the National Counter-Terrorism Center, joined the signal chat as the director of National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard, and his Venmo account was open for public views as of Thursday morning.
The Director of National Intelligence’s office has not responded to requests for comment.
Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday that private contact details for Waltz, Gabbard and Hegseth had been leaked online. Reporters for German news publications were able to find mobile numbers, email addresses, and even passwords belonging to Trump’s senior officials, with most numbers and email addresses still in use.
On Wednesday, Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe defended participation in group chat in testimony during a hearing focused on the global security threats facing the US.
Gabbard admitted that the conversation was “sensitive”, but denied that the classified information was shared in the chat. “There were no shared sources, methods, locations, or war plans,” she told lawmakers. On Tuesday, Gabbard and Ratcliffe said both. I didn’t notice Information shared in the chat about weapon packages, targets, or timing. Wednesday Atlantic Ocean More text released After chat officials reiterated, they reiterated that these topics were not classified as disclosed in the signal group.
The message showed that Hegseth provided more information to a group of senior Trump officials about a strike targeting the Houthi rebels earlier this month.
Several US intelligence reporting agencies and members of the US military who spoke to CBS News this week all claim that this type of information is always categorized, but even if the information is classified in some way, it is a violation of cybersecurity and operational security protocols.
CBS News on Tuesday released uncategorized internal documents from National Security Agency breaking news of vulnerabilities when using signaling apps, even when encrypted. The NSA bulletin was widely distributed to NSA employees a month before Signal Chatroom was created by Waltz.
Breaking news also includes third-party messaging applications that will be used to support NSA employees. signal WhatsApp is also permitted in certain “unclassified accountability/recall exercises”, but not to convey more sensitive information.
NSA employees were also warned that they would not send “things to compromise on social media or internet-based tools and applications” and “not establishing connections with strangers.”
Finn Daniel Gomez and Caitlyn Irek contributed to this report.
More about CBS News
James Laporta
