1. United States
2. Tenn.
3. Letter

There is significant concern from members of Congress over the Trump administration officials discussing classified military plans against Houthi rebels in Yemen on the encrypted messaging app Signal rather than secure government communication channels. Several lawmakers have criticized this lapse in operational security as "embarrassing," "inconceivable," and "just wrong." The main issues are the use of an unauthorized app like Signal to share sensitive details rather than proper classified channels, as well as the accidental inclusion of a journalist in the group chat who was then privy to the plans. This represents a serious breach of protocol for handling classified information. While some Republicans have called for investigations into what happened, there does not appear to be a push currently for disciplinary action against the specific officials involved. However, the incident underscores the need for improved handling of classified communications within proper secure government systems versus commercial apps not intended for that purpose. The rationale for why they used Signal versus official channels is unclear from the available information. But using mainstream encrypted apps for such sensitive military operational plans is widely seen as an unacceptable compromise of national security procedures across party lines. Concerns have been raised that adversaries like Russia and China could have monitored the unsecure app communications. Overall, this lapse exposed a critical failure in operational security protocols that lawmakers want addressed.