National security adviser Mike Waltz reportedly used his personal Gmail account for government communications, adding to a growing list of digital security failures in President Donald Trump’s administration.
Waltz, along with at least one senior aide to Waltz, used the commercial service instead of their government-issued email, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Interviews with several anonymous U.S. officials, along with documents reviewed by The Post, revealed that Waltz used his Gmail account to send his schedule and other work documents. Officials added that Waltz would also copy and paste from his schedule into the messaging app Signal to coordinate meetings.
More alarming, a senior aide to Waltz reportedly also used Gmail to send more sensitive information. More from the 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.
The potential security breach is yet another self-inflicted wound from the Trump administration. Waltz is already under intense scrutiny after he added a journalist to a Signal group with other high-level officials to discuss war plans.
And last week, German news outlet Der Spiegel reported it was able to find phone numbers, email addresses and even passwords for accounts belonging to Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard from commercial databases and password leaks available online.
Waltz’s Venmo account was also discovered by Wired and was publicly available until the publication informed Waltz’s team about its report.
National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told The Post that Waltz “didn’t and wouldn’t send classified information on an open account.”