Mike Waltz Used Personal Gmail Account for Government Communications: Report
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz used a personal Gmail account for government communications, The Washington Post reported.
Waltz has been under intense scrutiny since it was revealed he accidentally invited The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat discussing the U.S.’s plans to attack the Houthi rebels in Yemen. That error sent the American political landscape into a frenzy, with multiple members of President Donald Trump’s administration having to answer for it.
When asked about it, Waltz maintained that he was unaware how such an error could have occurred and insisted that he didn’t even have Goldberg’s contact information to add him to the group. There was speculation that the controversy could have cost Waltz his job, but Trump has publicly voiced his support for him.
Waltz’s potential security risks weren’t limited to the encrypted messaging app Signal. According to report from The Washington Post:
A senior Waltz aide used the commercial email service for highly technical conversations with colleagues at other government agencies involving sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict, according to emails reviewed by The Post. While the NSC official used his Gmail account, his interagency colleagues used government-issued accounts, headers from the email correspondence show.
Waltz has had less sensitive, but potentially exploitable information sent to his Gmail, such as his schedule and other work documents, said officials, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe what they viewed as problematic handling of information. The officials said Waltz would sometimes copy and paste from his schedule into Signal to coordinate meetings and discussions.
The use of personal email, even for unclassified materials, is risky given the premium value foreign intelligence services place on the communications and schedules of senior government officials, such as the national security adviser, experts say.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council denied Waltz’s alleged use of his personal Gmail account, stating there was “no evidence.”
The list doesn’t end there. After it was revealed that Waltz’s Venmo account was visible to the public, it was reported that his “friends” on the account included a CNN White House correspondent and an MSNBC producer.
