This morning over at The Washington Post ([archive link]), Shira Ovide, Danielle Abril, and Hannah Natanson write about Signal use among federal workers. I’m the lede (funsies!). This is a great article capturing the mood among federal workers right now, and it makes relatively clear that while what Pete Hegseth et al are doing is very much illegal, the way most feds are using Signal is fine.
I want to be absolutely clear about that: never while I was a federal worker did I use Signal to communicate about my work or to illegally evade federal records retention requirements, and I certainly do not condone current federal workers doing so. However, federal workers, especially those who work remotely, and especially at this time, need to be able to communicate legally with each other in a way that is private and where they can feel safe.
Safe, at least, as long as they don’t accidentally add the Editor In Chief of The Atlantic to a group chat.
