Some of the same unhackable applications that have become the “favorite technologies” of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups have gained popularity in Washington, D.C., in part because the federal government is still struggling to find ways to protect government communications.

Wickr, Telegram, and similar apps that promise the ability to send encrypted, self-destructing messages have a certain appeal throughout the political class, but especially within the intelligence community. Rep. Mike Pompeo, a former Army intelligence officer who now sits on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, uses one such app because hackers might gain valuable information from something as innocent as a conversation with a family member.