A conversation on 'Signal', a messaging app headquartered in Chicago, USA, has currently created a stir in Washington DC. Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of 'The Atlantic' magazine, caused a stir when he revealed what he had discovered in a signal chat group of high-ranking Americans.

The group was named 'Houthi PC Small Group' and included 17 high-ranking US officials, including US Vice President JD Vance and Defense Minister Pete Hegseth. It discussed plans related to the top-secret US-Yemen war. In that chat group, the journalist has published interesting details about what happened after Goldberg was mistakenly 'added'.

Goldberg, who doubted the truth of the group at the beginning and could not believe it, but after the things discussed there got settled, Goldberg, who left the group without giving any response until Sunday, wrote The Atlantic . The article raises questions about why top US officials were sharing this level of highly classified information over a common messaging app. 

Although some topics of military affairs are censored, along with people from top secret and investigative agencies, as the details of the chats emerge, the incident is being analyzed to expose the delicate balance and risks between modern communication tools and national security . A spokesperson for the US National Security Council confirmed that the chat conversation included in the Atlantic article was genuine. After this, even in the American Parliament, there has been a lot of criticism regarding this matter . President Donald Trump responded to a serious review of the use of the Signal app, BBC reported. 

What is Signal App ? The Signal app, which received significant international attention after the

incident, is popular for its privacy and security . Cryptographer Maxie Marlinspike and robot expert Stuart Anderson launched the platform in 2010 under the name Whisper Systems. First, the name of this app was TextSecure and Redphone and in 2014 it became a messaging app called Signal. 

Open-source encrypted model, i.e. the security and privacy of the user's data is ensured, so this app is the choice of privacy seekers. Since the conversations in this app are end-to-end encrypted, the one to whom the message is sent,  Can only read . The signal itself also has those  Cannot read messages .

In 2018, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton invested 50 million US dollars, and this app got the chance to further expand its services. By the end of 2024, it had about 70 million active users . This app has more than 220 million downloads and is a non-profit company. Experts in the technology sector use this app saying that the possibility of misuse of user's data is low due to less commercial pressure. 

It has group chat with up to 1000 people and video calling with 8 people. This app does not keep any user data with it . For example, Meta has access to all conversations on Facebook Messenger. It has become public that Facebook collects a lot of data about its users and even sells it in some cases. Signal has announced that it will not give any data about its users to others. Screenshots of the group chat said to be on the

signal . Source: The Atlantic

The company claims that security is also given special importance in this app. In 2015, the famous American whistleblower (information source) Edward Snowden praised this app. In 2021, the world's richest man, Elon Musk, and Jack Darcy, the founder of Twitter (currently X), also said that it is a safe messaging app. After WhatsApp changed its privacy policy in 2021, the use of Signal increased. 

was not on the list of approved apps. Signal

The Atlantic claims that there is a US government law that allows sensitive topics such as military activities to be discussed only on the US government's secure messaging platform. Only approved apps can be installed on devices owned by the US government, and the Signal app is not a recommended app for such conversations, according to Atlantic  . Less popular apps like Microsoft Teams Chat, Troop Messenger, Threema, Wicker are approved for US government jobs. The American government has arranged for the use of the US government's 'Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility', i.e. 'Skiff', for discussions on high-ranking military activities.

Atlantic has also raised questions about how the app, which is only used for gossiping about meetings or general meetings, is having conversations in a way that affects international diplomacy and military activities, and why Messenger is being used in such a way that contrary to the policy of archiving all formal conversations of high-ranking officials, they are automatically deleted.  In America, Hillary Clinton had to bear criticism because some official conversations were done through personal email instead of approved government servers and platforms when she was the Secretary of State . This event became one of the main reasons for Clinton's defeat in the 2016 presidential election after it was revealed. In the latest signal conversation, Vice President Vance has called Europe a free-loader, meaning  eating for free . Since he also questioned some of President Trump's things, now everyone is interested in how Trump will react to that.