U.S. Officials Called Signal a Tool for Criminals. Now They're Using It.

For years, U.S. officials villainized end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal as the domain of criminals and terrorists and a threat to national security. As fallout over a Signal group chat about Yemen war plans ricocheted through Washington, however, CIA Director John Ratcliffe revealed at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday that the app is approved for official communication and even comes installed on agency computers. One longtime critic of government attacks on secure messaging said it was a sign that everybody else should follow suit. "For everyday Americans, this seems like an inadvertent but strong endorsement of the…