Amid revelations that Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was invited into a Signal chat with high-level Trump administration officials, particularly Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussing military strategy surrounding their war strikes in Yemen, Threads user jeanie.online went viral after stressing why Trump administration officials are really using the app to discuss secret matters.
It's worth noting that Signal messages can be set and managed to disappear, as the team behind the app acknowledges on the Signal website:
"Use disappearing messages to keep your message history tidy. The message will disappear from your devices after the timer has elapsed. This is not for situations where your contact is your adversary — after all, if someone who receives a disappearing message really wants a record of it, they can always use another camera to take a photo of the screen before the message disappears."
The use of the app by the Trump administration is itself a violation of the Presidential Records Act (PRA), which states that any records created or received by the President as part of his constitutional, statutory, or ceremonial duties are the property of the U.S. government. These records must be managed by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at the end of the administration.
The PRA established that official records of the President and Vice President are owned by the United States, not by the President. Upon leaving office, the Archivist of the United States takes custody of these records and maintains them in a federal depository. These records become eligible for public access under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) five years after the President leaves office.
Additionally, last month Trump dismissed Colleen J. Shogan, the Archivist of the United States, who was responsible for safeguarding and overseeing access to government records.
With this in mind, consider what jeanie.online pointed out:
"The part that people are missing is that they're doing official communications on Signal to avoid those communications being retained. There are Project 2025 training videos that specifically recommended this type of thing as a way to avoid subpoenas."
"Our government is using 3rd party software to discuss [operational security], [info not releasable to foreign nationals], and Top Secret levels of communication in avenues that do not retain data. They can stage a total takeover of the US and there will be no evidence through any official channels."
You can see her post below.
@jeanie.online/Threads
Her point was validated on Wednesday after The Atlantic published the entire Signal chat, which indicated that "disappearing message time was set to 1 week."
Lev Parnas (@levparnas.bsky.social)
Lev Parnas (@levparnas.bsky.social)bsky.app
Disappearing messages was set to 1 week. WHY ?
Many have sounded the alarm.
The controversy erupted just days after a Pentagon advisory cautioned against using Signal, even for unclassified communications. A department-wide email dated March 18, obtained by NPR, warned of a security flaw in the Signal app, stating that Russian hacking groups were exploiting its "linked devices" feature to eavesdrop on encrypted conversations.
Meanwhile, CBS News reported that Trump’s Ukraine and Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was in Moscow meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he was added to the Signal group chat.
Flight data from FlightRadar24 showed Witkoff arrived in Moscow around noon on March 13, and Russian state media later aired footage of his motorcade leaving Vnukovo International Airport. Roughly 12 hours later, he was included in the "Houthi PC small group" chat.
