Security breaches can be fixed; people without honor can't be trusted

World view

- By PHIL KLAY

So now it's clear: the Trump administration has not kept sensitive details of national security secure. Thanks to reporting by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, we have learned that officials at the highest levels, including Vice President JD Vance, discussed military operations via chat on the cellphone app Signal, a medium vulnerable to hostile intelligence services. And they accidentally included Mr. Goldberg in the chat. Which is funny, but also, from an operational security standpoint, not great.

As the Trump administration has responded with a mixture of denials, brushoffs, lies and vitriolic attacks on Mr. Goldberg, I've found myself worrying less about the leak and more about the character of the people in charge of our nation's defense. The breach is serious, but security breaches can be plugged. Men and women who have shown themselves to have no character, though, can never be trusted. Not with national security, not with anything.