Who gave a former national security advisor a version of Signal that doesn't exist in any app store — and why?
Former U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, recently removed from his position, has found himself at the center of a growing scandal involving the use of an unauthorized variant of the Signal messenger. As journalists discovered, his smartphone was running an app called TM SGNL, developed by TeleMessage — a corporate tool designed to intercept and archive messages that would normally disappear.
The breach came to light after Reuters published a photo of Waltz taken during a Trump cabinet meeting, showing his phone screen filled with messages from political figures including J.D. Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, and Marco Rubio. At the bottom of the screen was a highly unusual prompt: “Verify TM SGNL PIN” — a message not found in the official Signal app.
Signal With a Backdoor
According to the TeleMessage website, TM SGNL is a corporate-modified version of Signal, built for message archiving on iOS, Android, and desktop platforms. A demo video on YouTube shows how the app claims to maintain encryption while capturing full message logs, including attachments and group chats, and forwarding them to external platforms such as Gmail. The company notes this is a sample, with support for “multiple archiving integrations.”
This effectively undermines Signal’s promise of end-to-end encryption, as messages can be extracted after the fact — creating serious data leak vulnerabilities. What raised additional alarm was the demo's use of unsecured email storage, highlighting a potential threat vector, even if unintentional.
The official Signal team responded quickly, stating they cannot guarantee security or privacy when unofficial versions of the app are used. Neither TeleMessage nor U.S. government officials have issued public statements so far.
A Risk to National Security?
Waltz isn’t just a user of TM SGNL — he’s been caught in multiple sensitive communications. In one instance, he accidentally added a journalist to a closed Signal group where U.S. military plans for Yemen were being discussed. In another, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly shared classified material with third parties, including family members.
The use of tools like Signal in government has long sparked debate. On one hand, disappearing messages conflict with laws requiring official correspondence to be archived. On the other hand, third-party archiving apps like TeleMessage can themselves pose major security threats.
Money Trails and Policy Gaps
Journalists also unearthed references to TeleMessage in U.S. government contracts. In December 2024, nearly $90,000 was allocated for licenses covering SMS, WhatsApp, and Signal archiving. In 2021, the U.S. Border Patrol paid $700,000 to Wickr for similar functionality — though in that case, they worked directly with the messaging app’s developer.
Waltz is currently a nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, but the TM SGNL scandal may only be the beginning — especially if it turns out that more officials have been using unauthorized messenger builds to discuss classified matters.
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