Mike Waltz and the controversy seem to go together for a little longer, as a new photo emerged showing the former national security advisor using a modified and less secure version of the Signal messaging app, TM SGNL, raising fresh security concerns.
Yesterday, US President Donald Trump removed Waltz from his position and nominated him for the UN ambassador after the Signal chat leak and now this photo pushed him into controversy’s whirl.
Reuters photographs from April 30 captured Waltz’s phone screen displaying conversations with several high-ranking officials, including JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard, and Steve Witkoff. These officials hold crucial positions in managing foreign relations and national security matters, including negotiations with Vladimir Putin regarding the Ukraine conflict.
The images were taken at a White House cabinet meeting in Washington DC on April 30, 2025. The modified application, TM SGNL, is developed by TeleMessage, a company that replicates messaging applications with additional archiving capabilities.
According to 404 Media’s analysis, whilst this archiving feature might help comply with presidential record-keeping requirements, it potentially compromises the end-to-end encryption that makes standard Signal secure, as messages can be retrieved from storage.
Visible in the photographs were partial message contents, including a message to “Rubio” stating “there is time” and one from “Vance” reading “I have confirmation from my counterpart it’s turned off. He is going to be here in …” The screen also showed evidence of a call to Gabbard and an 8am “PDB” meeting schedule.
Following these events, Trump reassigned Waltz to the position of UN ambassador on Thursday, with Rubio assuming the role of interim national security adviser. The White House’s official response maintained that “Signal is an approved app for government use and is loaded on government phones.”
