PROTECT AND DEFEND

The Signal scandal highlights Donald Trump's careless history with secrets

- PHILIP ELLIOTT AND NIK POPLI

LONG BEFORE FBI AGENTS RAIDED THE FLORIDA retreat to retrieve classified documents in August 2022, Mar-a-Lago had become a focus of spies from around the world.

Early in his first term, Donald Trump and the Japanese Prime Minister plotted their response to a North Korean missile launch on the club’s open-air patio, photos of which ended up on Facebook. Three months later, the new President shared Israeli-passed intelligence with Russia’s Foreign Minister, horrifying security leaders in Tel Aviv. (A U.S. spy inside Vladimir Putin’s regime was later extracted amid fears the disclosures could put the spook at risk.) Trump also boasted to his Filipino counterpart that he had two nuclear submarines off the coast of North Korea. In 2019, he tweeted spy-satellite images taken over Iranian airspace.

The Commander in Chief’s long record of recklessness with the nation’s most valuable secrets is part of the backdrop for “Signal-gate,” which saw senior U.S. security leadership discussing details of an impending and active military operation in a group chat that erroneously included the editor in chief of the Atlantic. Not 60 days into his second term, Trump’s carelessness has seeped into his Administration, including people tasked with keeping the country safe.