From Crisis to Credibility: How the Trump Administration Could Turn the Signal Scandal Into a Win for Good Governance
There’s a known strategy for rebuilding trust—if they’re bold enough to use it
📌 A Moment Made for Transparency
Every so often, a story comes along that’s so packed with implications—about government credibility, media narratives, and the public’s right to know—that it demands something more than a passing glance. This week’s TL;dr topic is one of those.
I’ve pulled from multiple published sources to shine light on a situation that, on the surface, looks like just another Beltway bungle. But dig a little deeper, and it becomes something else: a case study in how not to communicate during a national security incident—and a chance to talk seriously about what real transparency looks like when trust is in short supply.
At the center of it all: a Signal group chat, a stunned journalist, and a government that now faces a basic but essential question: Do you want the public to trust you? Then show them why they should.
🔍 First, the Basics
Earlier this month, The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg was included in a Signal group chat involving some of the most senior officials in the Trump administration: Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, DNI Tulsi Gabbard, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, among others. In that chat, they discussed details of an upcoming military strike on Houthi targets in Yemen, including timing and targeting. Goldberg, who says he was stunned to be in the group, quietly exited the chat after the strike and later published excerpts after verifying them with the relevant agencies and redacting some information at the CIA’s request.
💥 The Fallout
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for an investigation. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R) and ranking Democrat Jack Reed want answers from the Defense Department about:
Why sensitive discussions were happening on an unclassified platform, and
How a journalist got into the virtual room
Former intelligence officials have raised alarms, saying junior personnel would be fired for less.
And there’s the platform itself. Signal may be encrypted, but that doesn’t mean it’s secure.
“Just last month, Google’s cybersecurity firm Mandiant sent me a then-embargoed report which made clear that the app has security risks. It revealed how hackers were exploiting Signal to benefit Russia’s intelligence services. It goes back to as early as 2022.”
— From a March 25 report by Sascha Ingber, a national security reporter
🔄 And Then Came the Spin
Waltz has claimed Goldberg somehow added himself, a technical impossibility. Waltz claims to not know Goldberg and wonders aloud how a journalist of his political leanings got added to the chat.
“You know, Laura, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but of all the people out there, somehow this guy who has … gone to just all kinds of lengths to lie and smear the president of the United States, and he’s the one that somehow gets on somebody’s contact and then gets sucked into this group?”
—National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, on The Ingraham Angle
Goldberg, in an interview with CBS News, refused to comment on his relationship with Waltz.
As a journalist with a vested interest in protecting sources, Goldberg’s statement is completely defensible. But that wry smile when he answered the question tells me he knows Waltz. He also noted Waltz added him as a contact on Signal two days before the now-infamous chat got started.
🧩 Enter the Conspiracy
Former Hilary Clinton strategist Mark Penn, hardly a MAGA loyalist, suggested Goldberg’s presence was too convenient and likely part of a plot to embarrass the administration. Here’s his post on X:
That theory got a boost from journalist Matt Taibbi, who leaned into the idea that after years of media distortions around Trump-era scandals, we should expect the truth to be murky and slow to emerge.
“These stories are difficult. In the Trump era, there have been a lot of stories … that have seemed to be one thing in the beginning and have turned out to be something very different in the end. Often the scandal is in the other direction.”
—Matt Taibbi, America This Week
Fair enough. We should want the full story. But let’s be clear:
This isn’t year one of Trump. His people are running the government. If there was a “deep state” setup, then show us the receipts. If someone inside the CIA or Pentagon deliberately added Goldberg to the chat, it’s time to prove it. Otherwise, stop hiding behind innuendo and conspiracy. You’ve got the resources. You’ve got the power. So do the investigation. Do it right. Or shut the hell up.
🐟 What Real Transparency Would Look Like
All of this leads to a bigger point. If the administration really wants to restore trust—or hell, even just credibility—there’s a proven strategy it could use. It’s called Fish-Bowl Planning.
I first learned about it from the citizen engagement pros at Bleiker Training. Fish-Bowl Planning isn’t just about optics. It’s a strategy for earning credibility, especially from people who don’t trust you.
“Administrators using this technique try to put themselves into a fishbowl … They want the public to watch closely enough so that the public actually goes through the same learning process that they, the technical experts, are going through.”
—© Bleiker Training | consentbuilding.com
Instead of hiding the process behind closed doors, you open it up completely. That means showing who’s doing the work, what questions are being asked, how assumptions are changing, and even what ideas got scrapped along the way.
It’s hard. It’s uncomfortable. But it’s how you bring the public along on tough issues. And it’s how you build trust, especially in a moment when it’s in short supply.
This kind of openness is rare, especially in national security. But the moment calls for it. If officials want people to believe this was just a glitch, a mistake, a lesson learned—then show us. Don’t gaslight. Don’t deflect. Do the hard work in the open. That’s how you rebuild trust. That’s how you lead.
🗓️ Next GGF Office Hours: Wednesday, April 16 at 11 AM CT
Thanks to everyone who voted! Based on your feedback, the next GGF Office Hours will be held Wednesday, April 16 at 11:00 a.m. Central.
Special guests Brian Ligon and Abby King from the City of Mont Belvieu, Texas, will join us to share the behind-the-scenes story of their amazing Love MBTX campaign, which you’ll read about this Friday, and answer your questions.
This is part 2 of a three-month pilot to see what works, so if you’ve been curious, now’s the time to jump in. It’s free, it’s casual, and it’s built for local government folks like you.
👉 Register here.
Onward and Upward.