Posted on 11/17/2013 11:57:06 AM PST by billorites
When President Barack Obama travels abroad, his staff packs briefing books, gifts for foreign leaders and something more closely associated with camping than diplomacy: a tent.
Even when Obama travels to allied nations, aides quickly set up the security tent which has opaque sides and noise-making devices inside in a room near his hotel suite. When the president needs to read a classified document or have a sensitive conversation, he ducks into the tent to shield himself from secret video cameras and listening devices.
American security officials demand that their bosses not just the president, but members of Congress, diplomats, policy makers and military officers take such precautions when traveling abroad because it is widely acknowledged that their hosts often have no qualms about snooping on their guests.
The United States has come under withering criticism in recent weeks about revelations that the National Security Agency listened in on allied leaders like Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. A panel created by Mr. Obama in August to review that practice, among other things, is scheduled to submit a preliminary report this week and a final report by the middle of next month. But American officials assume and can cite evidence that they get the same treatment when they travel abroad, even from European Union allies.
No matter where you are, we are a target these days, said R. James Woolsey Jr., director of central intelligence during the Clinton administration. No matter where we go, countries like China, Russia and much of the Arab world have assets and are trying to spy on us so you have to think about that and take as many precautions as possible.
On a trip to Latin America in 2011, for example, a White House photo showed Mr. Obama talking from a security tent...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Long ago I was involved in a Project TEMPEST site.
(Telecommunications Electronics Material Protected from Emanating Spurious Transmissions)
A Faraday cage on steroids! And springs to dampen mechanical vibrations; and so much more.
In the ‘80’s the FBI gave my project a briefing on how France is spying on us. (Our company in particular.) By video we followed FBI agents into a nice hotel in Paris. They pointed out a video lens above the hotel room’s desk so they could see what you were working on. The shredder provided by the hotel made a photocopy as it shredded the paper. The phones were tapped. A camera was set up to watch the bed. This was all done by the French Secret Service.
One of our employees left his locked briefcase in his room while he went to dinner. The next day at a negotiation he told the French company negotiator that he couldn’t do what they wanted. The man said, “Sure you can.” And he pulled out a photo copy of negotiation briefing they’d stolen the night before from his locked briefcase. Our guy got up and left.
Dang! . . . . To many people saw that show and are far quicker on the keyboard than me.
He carries the cell phone because he talks to people who give him orders and directives that are completely outside of the system. People whose names we probably would not recognize.
For a second there I thought he was talking about Christian, heterosexual, Patriot Citizens.
The “how dare you” on the part of countries being spied on is for public consumption. In fact they are all spying on each other all the time, I believe.
Getting caught doing it, being exposed doing it, though, is a major faux pas. A major embarrassment for the one spying and the one being spied on. If you are going to spy on people, the least you can do for the sake of everyone involved is to not get caught.
Beautiful.
Exactly. Who is he hiding information from?
The”Cone Of Silence”?????????????????????
Them ragheads love their tents.
Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) and Agent 99
Does Benghazi make more sense now?
America's First Muslim President, Mecca. Make sense now?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.