Forget covfefe. Here’s the real problem with Trump’s cellphone
President Donald Trump, speaking on one of the secure lines in the Oval Office of the White House. Experts worry over the fact he also uses his cellphone.
Forget covfefe, the real problem with Donald Trump’s cellphone is the fact that he even has one, say many security and intelligence experts.
Those experts are anxious that Trump uses his personal phone to make and take calls. And not just private calls, but important diplomatic business.
“They’re freaking out because cellphones are inherently insecure,” says Noah Schachtman, executive editor of the Daily Beast, and something of a defense and security technology buff himself.
Several news outlets are reporting that he's been giving his number out to foreign leaders and asking them to call him directly. Justin Trudeau of Canada has already done so.
However, Schachtman describes the American president as “the number one target of foreign intelligence services, in the world.”
“Every spy headquarters on the planet wants to know what Trump is saying,” he adds. “If he doesn’t have a secure device to talk, the chances are pretty good that they’re going to be able to listen in.”
“There are lots of ways in which the US government can secure a phone call,” explains Schachtman. “But it can’t really be done with an off-the-shelf commercial phone…The phone Trump’s had in his pocket for the last couple of years, that ain’t going to be a secure device.”
Eavesdropping on a cellphone is “laughably easy” for a big intelligence service.
"All phone calls have a bit of encryption,” explains Schachtman. “But that encryption is not hard for an industrial strength intelligence service to break.”
Law enforcement agencies do it all the time: track, locate and monitor calls. All they need is a warrant. Foreign spooks, well they don't bother with warrants.
In 2008, Barack Obama was forced to give up his beloved BlackBerry after he was — a lot has changed since then.
“As we’ve seen over the years, Obama’s more of a rule follower," says Schachtman. "He was a law professor. And whatever you think of Obama he basically seemed to color inside the lines. Trump does anything but. And so I think when he gets told, sir, Mr. President, you’ve got to give up your personal cellphone, he shouts ‘Make America Great Again’ and dials his buddy Justin Trudeau.”