'Boggles the mind': Trump aide central to war plan debacle left Venmo friends list public

A new analysis suggests the widely condemned error triggered by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who included a journalist in a group chat discussing top-secret war plans, may not be an isolated incident, leaving him open to potential national security risks.

That’s according to WIRED, which revealed on Wednesday that Waltz left exposed his Venmo friend list – until the publication asked him about it. The list laid bare not only the top Trump official's profile photo but also accounts with names linked to others in the administration.

“A WIRED analysis shows that the account revealed the names of hundreds of Waltz’s personal and professional associates, including journalists, military officers, lobbyists, and others—information a foreign intelligence service or other actors could exploit for any number of ends, experts say,” according to the report.

Among the associates connected to Waltz found on his publicly available Venmo list of 328 friends include Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and Walker Barrett, a staffer on the United States National Security Council. Both, as noted by WIRED, are also fellow participants in the Signal group chat debacle.

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It is all part of “a broader pattern of what national security experts describe as reckless behavior by some of the most powerful people in the US government,” WIRED reported.

“The first thing you think of is the counterintelligence issue, right? And the security vulnerabilities. It kind of boggles the mind, in a way,” former intelligence analyst Michael Ard told WIRED. “It would be really easy for somebody to spoof a contact, and that is something the security industry has already been issuing notices on.”

Like Waltz, Wiles’ friends list was also left open to the public. And also like Waltz, Wiles’ privacy settings were changed to hide their friends list after WIRED asked the White House for comment.

Neither of their accounts listed Venmo transactions.