In recent communications, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly confirmed that Signal, the encrypted messaging application, is officially sanctioned for government use and is installed on government-issued devices. However, she refrained from commenting on the related app, TeleMessage. The National Security Council has also not provided any insights regarding this matter.
Security Concerns and Messaging Protocols
Signal gained attention after an incident involving Waltz, a high-ranking administration official, who accidentally included Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a group chat discussing sensitive military operations. Critics have raised alarms about the implications of this oversight, suggesting it highlights a troubling tendency among top officials to bypass established communication protocols when handling classified information.
TeleMessage, which is derived from Signal, has made modifications to the original app’s code. It positions itself as a solution for government entities and businesses to comply with records retention laws by creating instant backup copies of conversations. Founded in 1999 in Israel, TeleMessage was acquired by Smarsh, a company based in Portland, Oregon, in a two-year process that concluded in 2024. The app continues to maintain an operational presence in Israel.
Tom Padgett, Smarsh’s president for enterprise business, expressed surprise at the heightened scrutiny TeleMessage has received, emphasizing that the company’s primary role is to assist clients in meeting regulatory requirements. According to Padgett and government records reviewed by NBC News, TeleMessage has been involved in various government contracts for several years, predating the current Trump administration. Notably, a current contract worth .1 million from the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA pertains to “TELEMESSAGE MOBILE ELECTRONIC MESSAGE ARCHIVING,” which commenced in February 2023 and is set to conclude in August 2025.
Padgett elaborated on the nature of TeleMessage’s services, stating that, like Signal, the messages sent and archived through the app are encrypted. However, he acknowledged that the archiving capabilities do not directly address the security issues raised by the recent incident involving Signal. “It is purely a method and mechanism to capture that communication and store it,” he clarified.
The specifics of how government officials, including Waltz, utilize TeleMessage for chat backups remain unclear. Padgett mentioned that clients have multiple archiving options, including a partnership with another company for data storage, but Smarsh does not access this data. He declined to disclose whether the federal government employs Smarsh archives or other archiving methods, such as forwarding messages to a Gmail account.
A representative from Smarsh later stated, “While Smarsh has a thriving archive business, we are not the archive of record for any government agencies, including state, local, and federal entities.” Padgett also refrained from confirming or denying whether a photograph depicted Waltz using TeleMessage, stating, “I can neither confirm nor deny. And I know you understand that.”
TeleMessage remains relatively obscure and untested in the cybersecurity landscape. When approached by NBC News, five cybersecurity experts admitted they were unfamiliar with the app prior to the recent developments involving Waltz. TeleMessage does license parts of its technology to other companies, including its encryption protocol, which is integrated into popular messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp. However, a spokesperson for Signal clarified that there is no formal agreement with TeleMessage and expressed concerns about the privacy and security of unofficial versions of their app.
As the situation unfolds, Padgett opted not to comment on Smarsh’s current relationship with Signal. In a related development, President Trump announced the appointment of Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the new national security adviser, a role he will assume on an interim basis while managing both positions.
