US President hid in catering cart for secret flight in Turkey amid Iran threat

Terr_

> When asked later by reporters why they had to keep their shades shut during the [decoy] flight, Trump said it was because they were “probably on a dangerous flight”. He went onto say: “But if I go, you go. Right?” Is that... "go" as in travel, or "go" as in die alongside the Pharaoh in his tomb?

throw03172019

That must have been a rather large cart.

Miserlou57

Why would they admit all this?

epistasis

If true, this is really embarrassing. Have security standards really fallen that far, that we can't protect the US president in a more dignified way? That this story is even out there at all is an embarrassing low point for US competence and security. Amidst a ton of other incompetence and general displays of weakness from the US.

rayiner

I don’t know what Iran expected for trying to assassinate Trump back in 2024: https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/iran-assassination-pl... . Of all the people who weren’t just going to let that slide. Maybe they thought he wouldn’t win?

LorenDB

Presidential security is a fascinating topic. See also the presidential motorcade's operating procedures: https://people.howstuffworks.com/presidential-motorcade.htm

tengbretson

Was it serving oreja de cerdo?

adamjb

Echoes of Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn smuggling himself from Japan in a music equipment box while on bail for financial crimes https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57760993

ButlerianJihad

So all the news outlets are crowing about the old and the new "Air Force One", but security/aviation wonks all know that "Air Force One" (and "Marine One") is a callsign, not an aircraft designation. So if the President snuck into a smaller decoy aircraft, what callsign did these planes use? Does "Air Force One" keep up the ruse over the radio as well? If this is the case, and considering how difficult it is to keep secrets secret, then how large of a circle needs to be "read in" about the true situation, in order to protect the right aircraft? What contingencies do they have if one of them is actually attacked... keep up the ruse? Yes, I admit, we've all seen too many action/adventure films with complex decoy scenarios. It would seem that doing them in real life would just induce headaches. Also, my father is totally convinced that Qatar loaded-up the new aircraft with bugs and surprises, and they won't in a hundred years sweep them all clean. I feel like maybe Qatar wouldn't be that nakedly stupid. I mean, the Russians were really coy about their gift of The Thing! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)

GianFabien

There is an interesting tell, they sent the old presidential plane. But then Trump flew onwards from England on the new one. The two planes are sufficiently different that they can't be mistaken for one another.