The White House has ordered federal agencies to install a new political app on all government phones. The app, which was launched by the Trump administration, promises direct access to news, live broadcasts and political messages. Critics call the move dangerous and atypical of government practices.
Basic context
The White House has directed federal agencies to install its new app on all government-issued mobile phones for executive branch employees. This app, launched by the administration Donald Trump, should provide users with unfiltered access to key priorities, historical events and policy breakthroughs.
Pros. data internal emails, the app will be downloaded to phones in the near future, and federal agency CIOs have been instructed by the federal CIO Greg Barbasia assist in the technical implementation of the application on all government devices.
Technical and security risks
IT and cybersecurity experts called Forced installation of the application a dangerous step. Sonny Hashmi, a former senior government IT professional, warned that any app on government devices could create a back door to access government networks outside the corporate firewall.
After the app was launched, experts found that it transmitted IP addresses, time zones and other user data to third-party services. Initially, the app had a GPS tracking function, which was later removed.
Political nature of the app and employee reaction
The app contains official statements, political announcements and a feed of posts from the official accounts of the White House and Donald Trump himself. It has a button to send a text message to the president with the phrase «The greatest president of all time», which signs the user up for notifications.
Former government IT professionals believe that the forced installation of the app is not an operational step to improve communication, but rather a way to force all federal employees to see the same political content. The videos and messages in the app are clearly political in nature, which goes against the tradition of impartiality in the civil service.
History of similar initiatives by the Trump administration
This is the second time the Trump administration has sought to communicate centrally with the entire federal workforce. Last year, upon Trump's return to the White House, a new government email was created, providing a first-of-its-kind systematic channel of communication between the administration and federal employees.
This system was used to send out the «Fork in the Road» proposal, which encouraged hundreds of thousands of federal employees to write in their resignations. This experience shows that the new app can become a tool not only for informing, but also for political influence on civil servants.
