Signal group chat leak leads to a federal lawsuit

Five senior officials in the Donald Trump administration are facing a federal lawsuit over their use of the encrypted messenger Signal to discuss government business, including US operations in Yemen. The lawsuit was filed by the watchdog project American Oversight, which accused the officials of violating the Espionage Act.

This was reported by ABC News.

American Oversight believes that high-ranking officials violated the law

The lawsuit was filed in Washington on March 25. It alleges that the officials used a private chat room on Signal to discuss details of military operations against Houthi militants in Yemen. Such actions, according to American Oversight, are illegal because they violate requirements for transparency and recording of decision-making processes at the highest levels.

Plaintiffs asked the federal judge to immediately order Defendants to preserve and restore any related records that may have been lost or destroyed by using a messenger that doesn't provide for official records preservation.

Among the individuals named in the complaint are Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Earlier, we wrote a material on Signal messenger — who created the app, why and where it is gaining popularity, and whether it really does guarantee privacy.

Also, US intelligence community claims that China remains the number one military and cyber threat to the United States.