LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS ...

SENDING THE WRONG SIGNAL …

The calibre of the Trump administration has been brought into sharp focus by the latest revelations in The Atlantic Magazine about the catastrophic Signal text message App scandal.

In a move that must have realised all the worst fears of those in the bunkers of America’s Five Eyes partners, the top echelon of the US Security and Military apparatus casually shared information on their phones about a planned attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Somehow, the chat group, which included National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, shared details of the attack and its aftermath with the Editor of The Atlantic Magazine, Jeffery Goldberg, who had been innocently added to the Signal chat list by Waltz.

Hegseth posted a running commentary on the raids, giving precise times for two waves of planned attacks, the weapons to be used and, later, the results.

Once Goldberg published the story in The Atlantic, the least-qualified Secretary of Defence in US history, led the response.

And it was exactly the response you would have expected: Hegseth reverted to his macho man-child persona, denied there was any security breach and attacked the only innocent party in the entire communication catastrophe, Goldberg.

It's a response straight out of Trump’s playbook (as inspired by his mentor, the late Roy Cohn): never admit anything, deny everything and attack the accuser.

When Hegseth categorically denied any classified material had been shared, Goldberg responded by publishing the texts, clearly revealing a litany of breaches that, in the wrong hands, could have cost lives.

Trump’s apologists have since resorted to semantics, claimed memory loss and pointed out that the Signal App was encrypted.

But security experts countered that the texts were shared via the participants’ phones and they were the weak link, under constant hacking attacks by Russia, China and many other bad actors.

All the while, Trump himself was playing golf in Florida.

The whole sorry episode highlights the underlying lack of seriousness of the administration and the appalling lack of judgement and mendacity of those in charge of America’s defence and security.

Every Five Eyes member surely must have now resolved never to share any intelligence of consequence with the Unites States while these clowns are in charge.