It’s no secret to people who follow the shenanigans of the business world that companies have long attempted to camouflage their warts. These robber barons do so by donating fortunes to various projects that help society.
Three of the most visible businesses that are still attempting to camouflage warts are Boeing, the National Football League, and the International Olympic Committee. (Yes, it is a business, just as the NFL, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball League and other college and professional sports leagues are.)
Boeing sought to apply make-up to its troubles by originally blaming pilot error for the crash of two of its jets, one in 2018, the second in 2019. The company still hasn’t been able to remove the warts from its corporate face. The NFL has attempted to camouflage its warts by wrapping itself around the flag. What patriotism has to do with individuals being concussed has always baffled me.
Add to the above companies is Philip Morris International. Before the media began looking into the warts of the above companies, Philip Morris International, whose addictive products have caused illnesses that made many cancer and pulmonary doctors rich, the cigarette company attempted to camouflage its warts by becoming a patron of the arts in the 1950s.
But those in our business who speak the truth will acknowledge that, despite the efforts of the best crisis communications practitioners, once an entity has been involved with wrongdoing, the company’s past history is always subject to be part of a reporter’s current article. That’s because it’s always part of the company’s DNA.
The example of the moment is how everyone who was involved with the Signal chat situation, during which sensitive military attack information was discussed, are reacting since Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic magazine, revealed on March 24 that he was mistakenly invited to join the group chat discussion on a commercial network.
After Mr. Goldberg’s credibility was attacked by some people in the chat, he released information that he previously did not, which resulted in giving the chat legs.
Instead of admitting that a mistake was made and saying that safeguards were being taken to make sure it would never happen again, those in the chat did the worst thing possible from a PR viewpoint: They made statements trying to justify that the chat didn’t contain any confidential or sensitive information, despite the assertions by security officials and military personnel that it did.
According to U.S News & World Report, here is what those involved in the chat said after The Atlantic magazine reported on the chat:
- Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence. “There’s a difference between inadvertent release versus malicious leaks of classified information,” she said during a Senate hearing. “There was no classified information that was shared in that Signal chat.”
- Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense. “So, let’s get this straight,” Hegseth posted on social media. “The Atlantic released the so-called ‘war plans’ and those ‘plans’ include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information. Those are some really shitty war plans. This only proves one thing: Jeff Goldberg has never seen a war plan or an ‘attack plan’ (as he now calls it). Not even close.” Soon after learning about The Atlantic’s report, Hegseth lashed out at the reporter: “You’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called ‘journalist’ who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again. This is a guy that pedals in garbage. It’s what he does.” (I guess he doesn’t remember he worked for Fox News.)
- Stephen Miller, Adviser to Trump on homeland security and Deputy Chief Of Staff. Miller has not commented publicly about the scandal.
- John Ratcliffe, Director of the CIA. “My communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,” Ratcliffe said during a Senate hearing.
- Marco Rubio, Secretary of State. The secretary of state has not directly confirmed that he was in the chat, but a Signal account with the name “MAR”—Rubio’s middle name is Antonio—sent at least two messages, according to The Atlantic, the magazine that broke the story. “Obviously, someone made a mistake, someone made a big mistake and added a journalist. Nothing against journalists, but you ain’t supposed to be on that thing.”
- JD Vance, Vice President. “It’s very clear Goldberg oversold what he had,” Vance wrote in a post on X after The Atlantic published more messages. The Atlantic’s first article included a reference to Ratcliffe texting the name of a CIA official in the chat, but Goldberg wrote that he wasn’t publishing the name because that person is an active intelligence officer.” But one thing in particular really stands out,” Vance’s post went on to say. “Remember when he was attacking Ratcliffe for blowing the cover for a CIA agent? Turns out Ratcliffe was simply naming his chief of staff.”
(The Atlantic’s article noted that a CIA spokesperson had asked them to withhold the name of Ratcliffe’s chief of staff because CIA intelligence officers are traditionally not publicly identified.)
- Susie Wiles, the President’s Chief of Staff. She has not commented directly on the situation.
- Michael Waltz, Trump’s National Security Adviser. He created the “Houthi PC small group” chat thread and invited Goldberg, according to The Atlantic. Waltz has been criticized for using his Signal account to set some of the group’s messages to eventually disappear, which could violate federal laws about preserving government documents. Waltz said in a Fox News interview that he takes “full responsibility” for what happened and even called it “embarrassing.” But after The Atlantic released more messages from the thread, the national security adviser took a different approach, writing in an X post, “No locations. No sources & methods” and “NO WAR PLANS.” He also had criticized Goldberg as “bottom scum” during the Fox News interview. “Have you ever had somebody’s contact that shows their name and then you have somebody else’s number there?” Waltz said. “Of course I didn’t see this loser, (Goldberg), in the group. It looked like someone else. Now, whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean is something we’re trying to figure out,” said Mr. Waltz.” (To answer your question, Mr. Waltz, It never happened to me.)
- Steven Witkoff, Special Envoy to the Middle East. Witkoff wrote in a X post disputing accusations in a Wall Street Journal commentary that he was receiving messages in the group chat while in Russia. “I had no access to my personal devices until I returned from my trip. That is the responsible way for me to make these trips and that is how I always conduct myself.”
- Joseph Kent, Trump’s nominee to lead the National Counterterrorism Center. Kent has not released a direct statement, but he has shared several X posts commenting on the situation, including from two Republican lawmakers.
Attempting to defend their actions days after the security breach was disclosed gave the incident legs and resulted in additional negative media coverage that continues today
There are several important lessons that PR practitioners should have learned from the Signal chat conversation
- During a PR crisis, all statements should come from one spokesperson.
- Any statements released to the media should be cleared by the corporate attorney.
- The more statements that are issued, the more coverage there will be.
- Blaming others for a problem always results in a “he said, she said” situation resulting in additional negative coverage.
- In this situation, as in so many other crisis situations, the less said the better.
On April 4th, The Wall Street Journal featured a story with the headline, “Hegseth’s Role in Chat Under Review” by the Pentagon’s Inspector General.
Stay tuned. There’s bound to be other lessons to be learned.
