Trump Administration Subpoenas New York Times Journalists Over Air Force One Security Report

The Trump administration has subpoenaed four New York Times journalists following their reporting on security vulnerabilities aboard the president’s new Air Force One — a Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar and rushed into service earlier this month.The subpoenas, issued Friday, compel reporters Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday. Federal agents delivered some subpoenas directly to reporters at their homes.“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, said in a statement.The Times reported that the Qatar-gifted jet — which underwent a $400 million retrofit overseen by the Air Force — lacks several defensive systems standard on the older presidential aircraft. The traditional Air Force One, designated VC-25, is equipped with a robust suite of offensive and defensive capabilities, including:Infrared countermeasures (AN/ALQ-204 Matador jammers) to disrupt heat-seeking missile sensors;Chaff and flares to misdirect targeted missiles;AN/AAR-54(V) missile launch warning receivers to detect and track airborne threats;Electromagnetic shielding across the fuselage, capable of withstanding blasts up to nuclear-level;Encrypted communications systems, including phones, radio, and computer connections;Radar scramblers to jam nearby hostile aircraft.The new Qatari plane, according to multiple officials briefed on its retrofit, lacks several of these capabilities — most critically, its advanced antimissile systems.“Time didn’t permit all the normal Air Force One modifications, so some mix of security, communications and support is missing,” a former Air Force secretary, Frank Kendall, told The Times. “With the Iran situation, this could be of concern. Frankly, I’m surprised to see this plane used outside the U.S.”The Air Force acknowledged as much when it cleared the plane for presidential use in June, saying it “made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets.”The security concerns came to a head during Mr. Trump’s trip this week to a NATO summit in Turkey — which shares a border with Iran — when the Secret Service urged the president to return home aboard the older Air Force One. Mr. Trump later said the switch was made so troops at some U.S. bases in Europe could view the new jet.“Well, it’s flying to Europe to one of the big bases, two or three of the big bases, where we can show it to the people, and we’ll be going home by normal methods. But we have it going to Europe to a couple of bases, actually one in particular, but it’s going to go to a couple of bases and stop so the soldiers can see it because it’s truly magnificent,” he said in a press conference.Mr. Trump later made the announcement on Truth Social, framing the decision as a tribute to American service members.“To honor our brave men and women of the military, we are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the aircraft – everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first,” Mr. Trump wrote.While Mr. Trump said there is always a risk of assassination — “I have a threat all the time. I’m No. 1 on their list,” he said of Iran — the White House denied any security shortcomings. “The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols,” spokesman Steven Cheung said.Yet the abrupt announcement prompted speculation whether the abandonment of the new jet was related to potential security vulnerabilities compared to the aircraft it replaced, though no official explanation beyond the tribute rationale was acknowledged.A retired general, Robert Abrams, said on ABC News shortly after the White House announced the president would return home on the older plane that the Ankara airport is not particularly safe.“I think it largely has to do with lack of, or maybe not top-level, security and ability to secure Air Force One on the ground in Ankara,” the general said. “Oftentimes we think of standoff just from a human being’s perspective, preventing, you know, some terrorists from throwing a grenade or shooting an RPG at Air Force One. But threats today are much more sophisticated: electromagnetic threats, optical threats, infrared threats — there are all sorts of threats, and standoff from those threats is difficult, especially in and around that airport.”The general continued: “I’ve flown in and out of there, and it was probably a concern, so it had to be significant enough, I think, in this case, for President Trump to agree to not fly out on it. As we know, he’s very proud of that new plane, and so it must have been something significant.” The new subpoenas mark the latest escalation in the administration’s efforts to suppress critical coverage. Earlier this year, the Justice Department issued — and later withdrew — subpoenas targeting reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

Trump Administration Subpoenas New York Times Journalists Over Air Force One Security Report

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