Senator Ron Wyden is raising serious red flags about a messaging app used by Trump-era officials—one that’s now at the center of a growing cybersecurity and national security scandal. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Oregon Democrat urged the Department of Justice to open a formal investigation into TeleMessage, a supposedly secure communications tool that has recently been exposed as anything but.
What began as a quiet replacement for Signal—a popular encrypted messaging app—has turned into a full-blown controversy, involving hacked communications, questionable foreign connections, and concerns that sensitive government information may have been compromised.
A Secure App That Wasn’t
TeleMessage, marketed as a secure messaging service designed to archive encrypted messages, was adopted by several federal agencies under the Trump administration. But recent findings reveal that the app was deeply flawed. According to Wyden and cybersecurity researchers, the app stored unencrypted copies of every message on its servers—making them accessible to insiders or anyone who could gain access to the system.
In his letter to the DOJ, Wyden didn’t mince words. He called the software “dangerously insecure” and accused the company of misleading the federal government about its encryption protocols. Rather than protecting classified communications, TeleMessage may have left them dangerously exposed.
A Hack Exposes Bigger Problems
The problem went from bad to worse when a hacker managed to breach TeleMessage and access private messages and group chats. Tech outlet 404 Media reported that the intruder exploited a vulnerability in the app, gaining access to direct messages exchanged by U.S. government officials.
This breach happened in the middle of another scandal involving Mike Waltz, who was recently dismissed from his role as national security adviser. Waltz had set up a Signal group chat to share real-time updates about military operations in Yemen. However, it later emerged that he was using TeleMessage to communicate with senior officials—including Vice President J.D. Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard—during high-level meetings.
A photo from a cabinet meeting, showing Waltz using the TeleMessage app, triggered widespread alarm. The incident prompted TeleMessage to shut down its services temporarily, citing caution amid the cybersecurity breach.
From “Signalgate” to a Bigger Crisis
This isn’t the first time secure messaging apps have stirred controversy within the administration. Earlier this year, Waltz came under fire for using Signal with auto-delete settings enabled, a move that drew criticism for potentially violating federal recordkeeping laws.
In response, it appears the White House tried to pivot by adopting TeleMessage Archiver—a version of Signal altered to include a built-in archiving function. On the surface, it seemed like a better alternative. But as Wyden points out, it may have made things worse.
Instead of protecting communications, the app may have created a new vulnerability. The archiving feature, intended to satisfy legal recordkeeping requirements, ended up bypassing Signal’s core privacy protections—opening the door to unauthorized access.
A Foreign Connection Raises Red Flags
Wyden’s concerns go beyond technical issues. TeleMessage is an Israeli-based company, reportedly run by individuals with past ties to intelligence services. That connection has heightened fears that the app could have been used—either knowingly or unknowingly—as a surveillance tool.
The senator asked the DOJ to investigate whether any U.S. government communications were accessed or shared with foreign entities, especially the Israeli government. He questioned whether the app’s vulnerabilities were the result of poor design—or something more sinister.
“It remains unclear whether the design of this system was merely the result of incompetence… or a backdoor designed to facilitate foreign intelligence collection,” Wyden wrote.
