WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz received emails via his personal email account but has never used that account to send classified material, the White House said after The Washington Post reported Waltz and other National Security Council members used Gmail for government work.
The Post on Tuesday said Waltz and other NSC members used the Alphabet Inc-owned commercial email service to conduct government business, a week after the Trump administration’s security practices came under bipartisan criticism following its use of the Signal messaging app to coordinate military action in Yemen.
One Waltz aide used Gmail to share information involving sensitive military positions and powerful weapon systems tied to an unspecified ongoing conflict, it reported, citing documents it reviewed and interviews with three U.S. officials.
Waltz had less sensitive but still exploitable information sent to his personal email, including his schedule and other work documents, the Post said.
NSC Spokesman Brian Hughes, asked about the report, said: “NSA Waltz received emails and calendar invites from legacy contacts on his personal email.”
“He has never sent classified material over his personal email account or any unsecured platform,” Hughes told Reuters in a statement on Tuesday. Waltz copied in government email accounts for items received after U.S. President Donald Trump took office on January 20 to comply with federal records laws, he added.
Hughes said all NSC staff are informed that “classified material must only be sent through secure channels” and that “any non-government correspondence must be captured and retained for record compliance.”
Waltz, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others have faced sharp criticism following revelations last month that they used Signal — an encrypted commercial messaging app where messages expire — to coordinate and share highly sensitive details about a planned military operation targeting the Houthis in Yemen, rather than using secure government communications channels.
Critics have said the move was a breach of U.S. national security and could be a violation of law.
The administration officials’ discussions were shared when a reporter for The Atlantic magazine was inadvertently added to the Signal chat.
Members of Trump’s administration, including Waltz and Hegseth, in the past have leveled harsh criticism at former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state during the Obama administration.
On Monday, the White House said Trump maintained confidence in Waltz and considers the Signal case closed. Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt declined to give details about the administration’s review of the Signal incident but told reporters steps were taken to ensure it would not happen again.
Republican and Democratic senators have called for a formal probe.
U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries slammed Waltz following the latest revelations involving Gmail.
“Mike Waltz is totally and completely unqualified to be in a sensitive national security position, as is the case with the Trump national security team,” Jeffries told Axios in an interview on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Susan Heavey; editing by Don Durfee and Rosalba O’Brien)
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