Analysis: How missteps and misjudgments are eroding American security

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In part four of his 'National InSecurity' series, WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green reveals how the U.S. Secret Service uncovered a major threat that was operating in the shadow of the U.N. building.

Editor’s Note: For the past year, WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green has investigated a growing national security crisis fueled by a combination of escalating foreign intrusions and internal missteps. In his series, “National InSecurity,” he examines how America’s digital defenses have become increasingly fragile.

America’s national security is now under siege, not just by hostile powers probing for weaknesses, but by the nation’s own unforced errors. A growing list of self-inflicted wounds has left U.S. networks, policies and institutions dangerously exposed.

At the center of this vulnerability is Signalgate, the scandal involving senior officials using encrypted private messaging apps to discuss classified information. A key problem emerged during a chat about a military operation in Yemen that accidentally included a journalist.

That breach of protocol was not just a lapse in judgment; it signaled to adversaries that America’s cyber hygiene is inconsistent even at the highest levels of power.

Then came the decision to install the Wi-Fi network “Starlink Guest” inside the White House complex, a move condemned by national security veterans as reckless. These missteps have created a patchwork of risk across the very infrastructure designed to defend the nation.

The result is a dangerous convergence of internal errors meeting external exploitation. Foreign intelligence services from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea no longer need to launch high-profile hacks; they can exploit America’s inconsistency, its appetite for convenience, and its fractured oversight. In some cases, they already have.

Inside Washington, warnings about poor cyber discipline have grown sharper. The lack of a unified cybersecurity doctrine leaves every agency improvising and every failure rippling outward.

This is no longer just about protecting information. It is about maintaining credibility with allies, deterrence with adversaries, and confidence among citizens. The United States has reached a point where one unsecured signal or unmonitored connection could cascade into a national crisis.

Unless Washington recognizes that every internal error strengthens an external threat, the next breach will not be an accident. It will be an inevitability. National (In)Security is no longer a warning. It is a reality.

Read part 1 of J.J. Green’s series, “National InSecurity.” You can find the finale of the series here.

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