- the capacity, especially of a particular person or animal, for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; relative aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, meanings, etc.
- the gathering or distribution of information, especially secret information
~Definitions of Intelligence/DICTIONARY.COM
The most recent example of Donald Trump’s level of intelligence, or lack thereof, is his excitement concerning Qatar’s “gift” of a $400 million flying palace to temporarily replace Air Force One. To make my point, let’s take one definition at a time.
When it comes to Trump’s ability to “grasp truths, relationships, meanings, etc.,” it is clear he never made the 25.6 mile drive from the White House to the National Cryptological Museum at Fort Meade, Maryland, also the home of the National Security Agency. If he had, he might have seen an exhibit of what became know as “The Thing.” It was also a “gift,” a wooden sculpture of the Great Seal of the United States presented by the children of the Soviet Union to U.S. Ambassador Averell Harriman to celebrate the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in August 1945. According to an article on the museum’s website titled, “Cold War: Great Seal,” there was just one problem with this symbol of U.S./Soviet friendship.
It hung in the ambassador’s Moscow residential office until 1952 when the State Department discovered that it was ‘bugged.’ The microphone hidden inside was passive and only activated when the Soviets wanted it to be.
Why is this history lesson so important? While much of the pundit chatter about the inappropriateness of Qatar’s generosity is focused on the now common concern of a foreign government buying Trump’s favor, the greater danger is access to diplomatic and military intelligence. If mid-20th century Soviets had the know-how to embed an undetectable microphone in a piece of wood for seven years, imagine the opportunities to bug a 735,000 pound plane made of innumerable materials and electronics.
When compared to “The Thing,” the threat to national security is multiplied 100-fold. The microphone in Harriman’s office could only capture discussions in which a U.S. ambassador might be included. In contrast, when the president of the United States is aboard, Air Force One is his command and communications center for everything that is happening anywhere in the world.
We could forgive Trump’s ignorance of “The Thing.” After all he was not born when gifted to the United States and just five years old when the microphone was discovered. Nor would one expect him to remember that on 9/11, President Bush spent hours aloft until the military was sure Air Force One and its passengers could be securely flown to the Strategic Air Command in Nebraska. After all, Trump was too busy bragging (incorrectly) that he now had the tallest building in lower Manhattan after the Twin Towers collapsed or spreading a false story about Muslim-Americans dancing on the roofs of New Jersey buildings, celebrating the death and destruction from the terrorist attack.
But surely, he remembers the breaches in national security during the first 100 days of his new administration, even though his answer to every question about the release of classified information about bombing raids in Yemen over unsecured phone apps is, “I know nothing about that.” Unfortunately, the Qataris have no similar lapses in memory. Plus, they are too impatient to wait for one of Trump’s useful idiots to create the opportunity to listen in on privileged conversations via unsecured iPhone apps. The solution? Turn the primary means of a president’s transportation into a private SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) for which the target beneficiary is a single entity, Qatari State Security (QSS). And do it in such a way, a clueless president of the United States believes this counter-intelligence coup is a magnanimous symbol of mutual respect and friendship.
Do not be surprised if the fuselage of the gifted plane includes a facsimile of the following banner hoisted above Bush 43 during his Iraqi victory speech aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. There is one catch. It only appears when the QSS is gathering classified information.
For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP
I was also thinking about the security issues! Thanks, Jay.
Back in our Northern Virginia days, several of our “Agency” neighbors were dispatched to Moscow to install antennas on the exterior of the then-new American embassy there. The antennas were designed to thwart Soviet intelligence gathering from outside the building. Little did we know that the concrete building structure, cast locally, contained more bugs than a cheap Vegas motel. That, Dear Listeners, is why we had to tear the building down. Lesson learned? I think not.
tRUMP thinks, “Oooo. Big and shiny.”
Trojan horse!
Great analogy! Thanks for adding it to the conversation.
Brilliant and critical info for all of us. Can’t you disseminate it to a wider audience? (Not implying your readership is small!)
Thank you for the kind comments. I also post every entry on Facebook.