Surprise:

Signalgate chats vanish from CIA chief phone

Extraordinary rendition of data, or just dropped it out of a helicopter?

CIA Director John Ratcliffe's smartphone has almost no trace left of the infamous Signalgate chat – the one in which he and other top US national security officials discussed a secret upcoming military operation in a group Signal conversation a journalist was inadvertently added to.

That's according to the spy agency's own chief data officer Hurley Blankenship, who was tasked with preserving the group chat on his boss's phone after a judge demanded the messages be retained.

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Seems they left it too late, and the messages evaporated like, urm, let's say, like so much scotch mist. It's almost as if they think they've got something to hide, despite having published the book, but perhaps that's what makes them smart.

First entry in the Comments section:

Not to worry. Just ask The Atlantic. I'm sure they still have their copy.