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Elon Musk has attempted to explain why Trump administration officials embroiled in the Signal group chat controversy did not use a government-approved communication system.
White House National Security adviser Mike Waltz mistakenly invited The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to an encrypted chat including secret war plans just days before a wave of air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen earlier this month, it was revealed on Monday.
The 18 national security and cabinet officials in the “Houthi PC small group” chat—including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—have been criticized for the security lapse from both sides of the political aisle.
As Democrats call for heads to roll in the wake of Goldberg’s damning report, Musk has rushed to excuse the behavior of embattled federal officials and said the systems used by the federal government are “shockingly primitive.”
Musk shared an X post by the author and cartoonist behind the Dilbert comics, Scott Adams, who wrote: “If DOGE taught us anything, it’s that all of our government systems are stone-age relics. My best guess is that every government official in both parties uses commercial apps for all but the most sensitive stuff. There is no real choice.”
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“Most government systems are shockingly primitive,” the Department of Government Efficiency lead, who President Donald Trump charged with gutting departments and slashing bureaucracy, responded on Tuesday morning.
In another post by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday morning who claimed that Goldberg is known for his “sensationalist spin” and that no war plans were discussed, Musk replied with three American flag emojis.
Both replies came less than 24 hours after Musk shared a spoof post by the conservative news satire website The Babylon Bee about Goldberg’s report and took a swipe at the magazine he heads up.
“Best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of The Atlantic magazine, because no one ever goes there,” Musk tweeted, before the post was later shared by Trump on Truth Social.
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Goldberg wrote that Waltz invited him to connect on Signal on March 11. The journalist said he was added to the group two days later and no one appeared alarmed—or even aware—about a mysterious interloper being in the chat.
Writing in the group, Vance appeared to disagree with Trump’s wisdom on the strikes, noting: “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.”
The vice president and defense secretary also shared their disdain for what Hegseth called “European free-loading.”
When probed by a reporter in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he didn’t know “anything about” the story.
Congressional Republicans and Democrats have called for action, including for an investigation to be launched into the breach. Some of the Trump administration’s most staunch critics have even suggested that the security officials in the Signal group lose their jobs.
