After nearly two decades on the ground, President Trump’s recent decision to withdraw 2,500 troops from Iraq and Afghanistan by mid-January has shaken the defense community. As American forces now consider how to quickly—yet safely—exit these regions, there’s one security vulnerability that requires close scrutiny: WhatsApp.
The proliferation of consumer-grade communications applications like WhatsApp has given rise to widespread, unsanctioned use throughout the military community—a practice that puts operations at risk of interference in an era of great power competition. In fact, this critical transition for U.S. forces is a perfect illustration of the growing concern about active U.S. military leveraging insecure communications tools to transmit operationally sensitive information.
Without the ability to confidentially communicate and collaborate, soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, space professionals, and defense civilians and contractors are at risk of leaking critical information that could impact a safe exit from Iraq and Afghanistan. Simply by sending a text to a family member, a soldier, for example, could inadvertently reveal information that could result in the identification of a secret operating base to a hostile adversary. Or worse, using WhatsApp to coordinate details of the exit with other members of the military could put those details in the hands of enemy combatants, putting American lives at risk.
There have been other examples where seemingly innocuous applications have had potentially serious security and privacy implications when used by military personnel. In November 2019, U.S. soldiers in an intelligence unit with top-secret clearances revealed to The Washington Post that they had been asked by a commanding officer to download a new app developed for the unit for the purpose of communicating weather and training updates. A closer review of the ..
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