Both are critical to our nation’s future. Our leaders are proving to be unreliable.

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Bad Signal

This week, we learned about a military strike on targets in Yemen from Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, because, as he titled his article, “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans.” [1]

The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.
I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing. [2]

Of course, it is a huge issue that a reporter was invited to a call on Signal, a third-party messaging app you or I could download ourselves (which means you or I could have also been invited to the call, an incredible breach of security). What we also learned from this one Signal scandal is that numerous federal officials were so careless with our national defense information in this massive security screw-up.

I spent the first twenty years of my career supporting the U.S. defense and intelligence communities. I held high-level security clearances to perform the work for our nation, and it’s infuriating to me to see how cavalier and just plain stupid these leaders have been with our nation’s secrets.

To perform any classified work, you need to do so inside a SCIF, which stands for Secure Compartmented Information Facility. I won’t go into the methods used to keep these secrets, but, as an example, I had to pass through fifteen layers of security (yes, 15…) to start work on one program, from entering the building to entering the SCIF to gaining access to the information itself.

Yet, a conversation among principals was conducted on an unclassified commercial messaging app about a military air strike in Yemen; the apparent participants included the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Vice President, where they carelessly communicated sensitive military attack plans – times, targets, and operational details. [3][4]

And if that wasn’t troubling enough, at no time did anyone question that such a discussion was occurring outside a SCIF. Plus, once this became public, the first impulse among the principals was to deny and attack the reporter with accusations of lying about the content. “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that,” said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. [5]

Goldberg and Harris wrote in their article that “statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump — combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts — have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions.” [5][6]

Given this, we don’t know how often these types of conversations have been happening in unsecure manners since the start of the administration; this is just the one instance that we know about.

America has adversaries all over the world and even inside our borders, trying through espionage, spycraft, and surveillance to steal our nation’s secrets. The safety of the American people and our allies depends on us protecting those secrets and following the law.

By the way, when Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said that he received a portrait of President Trump from Russian President Vladamir Putin and brought it back to Trump, did anyone follow the right OPSEC and scan it for covert listening devices? We may never know if they found anything, but did anyone have any suspicions about bringing this “gift” back to the President? [7]

According to those that know the law and the requirements for protecting government secrets and preserving information for the public, these principals may very well have broken the law: [8]

“I can’t fathom it doesn’t violate the Espionage Act,” [said] Mark Zaid, a national security law expert....
“You should also think of whether it violates the Federal Records Act by the fact that they had the messages set to destroy, with no indication, as far as we know, that they were preserving them, which is required.”

With numerous attacks on our institutions, it might be easy to let this one go and focus on the next attack. However, our nation and the world are less safe if our leaders don’t take national security seriously; this isn’t one on which we should lose focus.

Social Security

The administration is not only proving to be careless with our national security information, but also incredibly reckless with the truth regarding one of our most important social safety net programs.

In a recent interview with Fox News, [9] Elon Musk and engineers working with him promoted a debunked claim that Social Security is riddled with massive amounts of fraud.

However, it’s critical to understand the background on fraud accusations at the Social Security Administration, because when presented with the facts, Musk and his team are finding it very hard to surface actual fraud.

From Washington Post reporting: [10]

“…less than 1 percent of Social Security’s payments in recent years were determined to be improper — often the result of an accidental oversight or change in benefit status, according to a report last year by the agency’s inspector general. That works out to about $9 billion a year, and more than two-thirds of the mistaken payments were eventually clawed back.”

This “less than 1% figure” comes from a July 2024 Office of the Inspector General report, “Informational Report Preventing, Detecting, and Recovering Improper Payments.”

Axios later reported that: [11]

“[a]t a press conference on [March 11], acting commissioner Lee Dudek said $100 million is lost each year to direct deposit fraud. To address it, the agency is curtailing its phone services.”

However,

“$100 million in fraud represents about 0.00625% of the $1.6 trillion the government sends out each year in Social Security benefits,” and “[o]nly around half of that $100 million was lost to phone fraud in 2024, according to a person familiar with Social Security fraud who attended a meeting last year where data on the issue was shared, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.”

Former Social Security Administrators have spoken out against claims of massive fraud. From NPR reporting: [12]

Michael Astrue, “who served as the commissioner of the Social Security Administration for six years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, joined NPR's Michel Martin to discuss the Trump administration's plans to reform the Social Security Administration.
“Michel Martin: Based on your experience, is the Social Security Administration rife with fraud? Elon Musk keeps insisting that it is.
“Michael Astrue: No, it's not. And the big claims are just flat out wrong.”

And the issue of massive fraud resulting from phone calls to Social Security offices was clarified by the Social Security Administration itself: [13]

Approximately 40 percent of Social Security direct deposit fraud is associated with someone calling SSA to change direct deposit bank information.

So, from these facts:

Direct deposit fraud at Social Security is extremely rare
However, when it does occur, about 40% of the time it’s associated with a phone call to SSA.

DOGE Engineer Aram Moghaddassi on “Special Report with Bret Baier” discussing Social Security, March 28, 2025 [14]

Yet, in the Fox News interview with Bret Baier, Musk and his team either mistakenly or intentionally misled Baier and viewers about the realities of fraud in the Social Security systems.

Here is a part of the conversation where one of Musk’s DOGE engineers, Aram Moghaddassi, commented about what they found: [14]

Moghaddassi: "At Social Security, one of the first things we learned is that they get phone calls every day, people trying to change Direct Deposit information, so when you want to change your banking account, you can call Social Security. We learned that 40% of the calls that they get are from fraudsters."
Bret Baier: "40%?"
Moghaddassi: "That's right. Almost half."
Musk: "They steal people's Social Security is what happens."

People call Social Security offices all the time. 40% of these calls, even of those trying to change their direct deposit information, are not people trying to commit fraud; they are likely American citizens trying to get answers about their benefits that they have earned by paying into the system.

The Social Security Administration says that, when direct deposit fraud occurs, 40% come from phone calls, but Musk and his team claim that 40% of phone calls are fraud. Their logic is backwards.

What is backed by the facts:

Social Security fraud occurs rarely
When fraud occurs, 40% of the fraud attempts are by phone

What is not backed by the facts:

When phone calls are made, 40% of them are fraud

These are very different things - one is very wrong, and when presented with such certainty, backed up with numbers that imply a factual basis for their claim, it presents a false picture of what the truth is.

The nerdy, technical term for this is a syllogistic fallacy [15] - a fancy term for making a logical error for what leads to what. When done by mistake, it’s an error; when done intentionally, it’s a lie.

It’s one thing for there to be a debate on how to extend Social Security for future generations. It’s another to falsely describe the program as fraudulent to undermine faith in Social Security itself.

The takeaway: Congress and major news outlets need to demand hard information from Musk and his team. We need real facts from them with sourcing so that we can independently verify things for ourselves. They have demonstrated that they are unreliable conveyers of information and have lost the benefit of the doubt.

Slashing expenditures this way isn’t efficiency; this is the same as deciding to lose weight by using a chainsaw to cut off your arms and legs. You will definitely weigh less, but it’s probably not the wisest approach to weight loss.

As Trump once said about other groups, “they’re not sending their best.” [16]

If this continues, our country’s security – national and social – is at risk.

Protecting Elections

There’s probably more discussion needed on protecting our elections. The Trump Administration recently communicated an executive order to add requirements not authorized by law. [17] These proposals could disenfranchise millions of American citizens in the feigned desire of reducing the miniscule existing amount of electoral fraud. [18]

From the Brookings Institution: [19]

On purported non-citizen voting: There is no data that suggests that more than a minute number of non-citizens vote. On the contrary, in 2016, the Brennan Center for Justice found only 30 suspected cases of non-citizen voting, which comprised 0.0001% of the 23.5 million votes cast. A review conducted by the CATO Institute in 2020 across several states corroborated that non-citizens do not vote in numbers that can influence the outcome of elections.

Voter suppression and limiting the right to vote is a long-standing practice in America, and preserving our democracy is something of which we need to stay vigilant. Messing with the electoral process happens at all levels, from federal to local, with historic and current examples including poll taxes, [20] literacy tests, [21] voter roll purges, [22] forensic audits in search of widespread fraud patterns, [23] reductions in the number of polling places and moving them to difficult-to-reach locations, [24] reduction and/or elimination of mail-in ballot drop boxes location in large counties, [25] voter ID laws, [26] and restrictions of day and time that polling places are open. [27]

I write about this in my upcoming book Local Democracy in America – the root cause: the desire to stay in power [28]

We take for granted that norms alone can guide our democratic self-governance journey. However, letting the people decide is not a natural impulse. People in power want to be in power, want to stay in power, and dislike when others question their possession or use of power. Letting the people decide is commonly viewed by those in power as a risk, decreasing the likelihood of achieving their aims; consequently, ensuring a desired outcome becomes preferable to honoring the voters’ democratically made decision.

Reminder:

My book on local elections and their role in self-governance is available for Kindle pre-order - paperback version coming soon!

Narratives

The book I’m reading or movie I’m watching

“Severance” (Apple TV+)

The series follows employees at the biotechnology corporation Lumon Industries who have undergone "severance"—a medical procedure that ensures they retain no memories of the outside world while at work, and have no recollection of their job once they leave. This results in two distinct personalities for each employee: the "innie", who exists solely within Lumon, and the "outie", who lives their personal life outside of work. [29]

GIF Game

Brian Cox as Logan Roy in *Succession*

(worthy of repeating from above…)

Notes and Sources

[1] – Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans,” The Atlantic, March 24, 2025, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/?gift=8DuZT5mBYqmK1I4zfwIFq_8-QFi59Pm-BlN2tdO7MF4&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

[2] – Ibid.

[3] – Ibid.

[4] – Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris, “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal,” The Atlantic, March 26, 2025, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/signal-group-chat-attack-plans-hegseth-goldberg/682176/

[5] – Ibid.

[6] – Daniel Arkin, “The Atlantic publishes full Signal chat messages showing military plans about U.S. strikes in Yemen,” NBC News, March 26, 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/atlantic-publishes-full-signal-chat-messages-showing-military-plans-us-rcna198148

[7] – Sarah Fortinsky, “Putin gave Trump portrait to envoy, Kremlin confirms,” The Hill, March 25, 2025, https://thehill.com/policy/international/5212691-putin-trump-portrait-witkoff-russia/

[8] – Rebecca Beitsch, “Signal chat discussion of ‘clearly classified’ information violated law, experts say,” The Hill, March 28, 2025, https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/5218181-signal-chat-violates-espionage-act/

[9] – “Elon Musk and DOGE team sit down with Bret Baier in ‘Special Report’ exclusive,” Fox News, March 28, 2025, https://www.foxnews.com/video/6370654580112

[10] – Todd C. Frankel and Hannah Natanson, “Why DOGE is struggling to find fraud in Social Security,” Washington Post, March 24, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/24/social-security-fraud-doge-cuts-dead/

[11] – Emily Peck, “DOGE Social Security plan targets small fraud at possible high cost”, Axios, March 20, 2025, https://www.axios.com/2025/03/20/doge-social-security-deposit-fraud

[12] - Michel Martin and Destinee Adams, “Former head of Social Security says Elon Musk and DOGE are wrong about the agency,” NPR, March 24, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/24/nx-s1-5337999/elon-musk-doge-social-security-cuts

[13] – “Correcting the Record About Social Security Direct Deposit and Telephone Services”, Social Security Administration, March 12, 2025, https://blog.ssa.gov/correcting-the-record-about-social-security-direct-deposit-and-telephone-services/

[14] - “Elon Musk and DOGE team,” Fox News, https://www.foxnews.com/video/6370654580112 (timestamp 10:37)

[15] - “List of Syllogistic Fallacies,” Logical Fallacy, retrieved March 30, 2025, https://www.logical-fallacy.com/articles/list-of-syllogistic-fallacies/

[16] – “What Donald Trump Has Said About Mexico and Vice Versa,” ABC News, August 31, 2016, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-mexico-vice-versa/story?id=41767704

[17] - Donald J. Trump, Executive Order 14248, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” March 25, 2025, Code of Federal Regulations, 90 FR 14005, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/03/28/2025-05523/preserving-and-protecting-the-integrity-of-american-elections

[18] - Jacob Knutson, “Trump Order Could Disenfranchise Millions of Voters,” Democracy Docket, March 25, 2025, https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-voting-elections-executive-order/

[19] - Samara Angel, Peter W. Beck, and Jonathan Katz, “Trump’s executive order threatens to undermine American elections,” Brookings Institution, March 28, 2025, retrieved March 30, 2025, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/executive-order-threatens-to-undermine-american-elections/

[20] - “Poll Taxes,” National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, https://americanhistory.si.edu/democracy-exhibition/vote-voice/keeping-vote/state-rules-federal-rules/poll-taxes

[21] - “Literacy Tests,” National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, https://americanhistory.si.edu/democracy-exhibition/vote-voice/keeping-vote/state-rules-federal-rules/literacy-tests

[22] - “Voter Purges,” Brennan Center for Justice, https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/voter-purges

[23] - David Schwartz and Nathan Layne, “’Truth is truth’: Trump dealt blow as Republican-led Arizona audit reaffirms Biden win,” Reuters, September 21, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/arizona-republicans-release-findings-widely-panned-election-audit-2021-09-24/

[24] - “Latino-majority town in Kansas moves its lone polling site outside city limits, triggering ACLU suit,” Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2018

[25] - Jolie McCullough, “Texas counties will be allowed only one drop-off location for mail-in ballots, state Supreme Court rules,” Texas Tribune, October 27, 2020

[26] - “Voter ID,” Brennan Center for Justice, https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/voter-id

[27] - Eugene Scott, “New Georgia legislation would curb ‘souls to the polls’,” Washington Post, February 24, 2021.

[28] - Mic Farris, Local Democracy in America, 2025, http://www.micfarris.com/books

[29] – “Severance (TV series),” Wikipedia, retrieved March 30, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severance_(TV_series)

Decisions with Mic Farris

Seek Truth. Honor Differences.

National Security and Social Security