The National Security Council (NSC) of the White House found itself in the center of a scandal after it was revealed that its staff, including National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, used personal Gmail accounts for official correspondence.
The Washington Post reported on this, citing documents and anonymous sources in the government. According to the publication, Gmail was used to discuss issues related to military operations and sensitive data, raising concerns among cybersecurity experts.
Email, especially widely used platforms like Gmail, is not considered a secure channel for sensitive information. Experts, including Eva Galperin from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, note that without specialized encryption (such as GPG), messages can be intercepted—even on Google’s servers. For governmental needs, secure systems like JWICS, designed for handling classified data, are typically used. The use of personal accounts also violates archiving rules mandated for officials.
The scandal was further amplified by a recent incident in which Waltz accidentally added a journalist from The Atlantic to a Signal chat discussing military plans in Yemen. NSC representative Brian Hughes stated that Waltz did not send classified data via Gmail and copied the official address to comply with the law.
