27 December 2018 — 2104 mst
President Trump’s insouciant approach to operational security
My parents’ generation remembers the poster at right. Today, the slogan might be “Lame brains down planes,” or “Tweet squeals expose SEALs.” Operational security matters just as much today as when we were waging war against the Axis three-quarters of a century ago. But the President Roosevelt was no blabbermouth — and President Trump is.
President Trump deserves credit for visiting our military forces in Iraq, and for taking Melania with him. Once among our fighting forces, however, reports Matt Stieb of the Daily Intelligencer, he couldn’t resist posing with a special operations group that should not have been photographed:
In the pool report of the trip — which was embargoed to help protect the Trumps’ safety in Iraq — the president asked the chaplain of Seal Team 5, Lieutenant Commander Kyu Lee, to take a picture with him, revealing the presence of the special-ops team at the al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq. When Trump left Iraqi airspace, he posted a video in which he and the First Lady pause for photos with members of Seal Team 5, decked out in full battle gear and night-vision goggles.
The Tweeter-in-Chief deserves a swift kick in his tweeter for exposing the location and faces of members of SEAL Team 5.
Operational security prior to Trump’s boarding Air Force One also was pretty casual, according to various reports. The White House routine that was visible from the street evidently changed after Trump left for Andrews Air Force Base. That’s a mistake.
And then the VC-25A carrying Trump, flying under a covert call sign, was photographed flying over England at 31,000 feet by an amateur airplane spotter using a long lens at a distance of 25 miles. He posted his image on Flickr, noting the jet was a VC-25A, the Air Force’s designation for the two modified Boeing 747-200Bs that are the prime airplanes for Presidential travel.
Was the spotting a one in a million fluke? The White House and Air Force may advance that argument, but given the number of amateur airplane spotters in Europe, I think the odds of being spotted in broad daylight are considerably higher and probably ought to be taken into account when planning a Presidential flight.
On the map below, I’ve depicted two flight paths, the 6,200-mile great circle route that Air Force One was flying, and a 6,500-mile low visibility route that’s mostly over water. According to published reports, the VC-25A’s range on internal fuel is 7,800 miles, so the low visibility route is feasible. I doubt, incidentally, that Air Force one flies a strict great circle route, as that would be a invitation to mischief.
The press, incidentally, maintained security, following the customary protocol for Presidential flights, not publishing reports until cleared by security officials. President Trump, who may have the power to declassify almost anything, outed the SEALs. And the officials who planned the flight’s route evidently didn’t reckon on the ability of amateur airplane spotters to spy a VC-25A flying over England.
FDR must be spinning in his grave.