Passwords and private information belonging to top national security officials in the Trump administration have been found online, according to the German publication Der Spiegel.
In a stunning report published on Wednesday, the paper said its journalists “used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web.” Those whose information was compromised include Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
“Private contact details of the most important security advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump can be found on the internet,” the outlet wrote. “DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials.”
Spiegel explained:
Those affected by the leaks include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.
As such, the reporting has revealed an additional grave, previously unknown security breach at the highest levels in Washington. Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices. It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth discussed a military strike.
The revelation comes just two days after Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic published a wild story detailing how Waltz added him to a Signal group chat with Hegseth, Gabbard, Vice President JD Vance, and other top Trump officials, where they discussed a looming airstrike on a Houthi rebel target in Yemen.
Waltz and Hegseth responded to The Atlantic story by lashing out at Goldberg. Ultimately, Waltz took some responsibility for the leak while nonetheless suggesting Goldberg may have somehow cajoled his way into the group chat.
“Look, a staffer wasn’t responsible,” he said. “I take full responsibility. I built the group. My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated.”
