A new investigation has revealed that personal information belonging to senior U.S. security officials — including active phone numbers, email addresses, and linked social accounts — is easily accessible online, raising concerns about national security and digital hygiene at the highest levels of government.
According to Der Spiegel, the contact details of Trump-aligned figures such as National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, former Fox host Pete Hegseth, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appeared in commercial data broker databases and previous breach dumps. Many of these phone numbers and email addresses are still active and linked to WhatsApp, Signal, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Instagram, and even fitness tracking apps.
The exposure doesn’t stop at static data. Wired reported that Mike Waltz’s Venmo account was left public, revealing a network of 328 friends that included White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and National Security Council official Walker Barrett. While no transactions were visible, experts warn that access to social graphs alone can aid intelligence mapping and targeting by hostile actors.
These lapses have prompted calls for a review of personal cybersecurity practices among government officials. Despite repeated warnings, many continue to use unsecured platforms or fail to lock down accounts that link directly to sensitive national security roles.
The revelations follow an earlier controversy in which the same group of officials used a Signal group chat to coordinate potential airstrikes in Yemen. That chat inadvertently included The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, underscoring how even encrypted tools can introduce risks if misused.
