Friday, August 30, 2019

Did President Trump Disclose U.S. Surveillance Secrets In His Tweet On Iran's Rocket Failure?



Reuters: Trump Iran photo tweet raises worries about disclosure of U.S. surveillance secrets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday posted on Twitter a photo of what appeared to be the site of a failed Iranian satellite launch, raising questions about whether he had disclosed U.S. surveillance secrets.

The black-and-white photo showed the fire-blasted launch site at a space center in northern Iran including a damaged gantry service tower and a downed mobile erector launcher.

Trump, in his tweet, cited the specific location of the site, saying the United States was not involved in the “catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later on Friday, Trump defended his posting of the photo and reiterated that the United States had nothing to do with the incident.

“We had a photo. I released it, which I have the absolute right to do,” Trump said.

He said the Iranians “were going to set off a big missile and it didn’t work out too well. Had nothing to do with us.”

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Over the years I have posted many satellite photos from the U.S. government. And while they are not like this one, they were close. Everyone also knows that the resolution from U.S. spy satellites are incredible, which this picture. Bottom line, there are no U.S. surveillance secrets being disclosed. Like it or not, President Trump is also right about this .... Trump: I have the absolute right to release Iran photo (CNN).

More News On President Trump's Tweet On An Iranian Rocket Failure

Trump may have revealed US military secrets by tweeting a photo to taunt Iran -- Business Insider
Trump appears to taunt Iran with tweet that raises concerns he disclosed classified information -- CNN
Trump Denies U.S. Responsibility in Iranian Missile Base Explosion -- The New York Times
President Trump tweets picture of sensitive satellite photo of Iranian launch site -- Ars Technica
President Trump Tweets Sensitive Surveillance Image of Iran -- NPR
US official confirms that Trump tweeted out a picture from a classified intelligence briefing -- Business Insider

8 comments:

RussInSoCal said...

Yep. POTUS is the sole authority on what is or isn't classified information.


WAY,
IT,
IS,

R,

Anonymous said...

And I'm almost certain that the resolution displayed is down-sampled quite a bit from the original.

Bob Huntley said...

During the early days of the space program, in an interview, one of the Astronauts commented on the ability of the technology at that time. He said from space if he looked at a football field while a game was being played, when the ball is positioned on the ground waiting for the action, he could read the printing on that ball. No doubt the technology has improved greatly since then.

Anonymous said...

anon
youare almost certgain? what gives you expertise? oh, a guess on your part

Anonymous said...

ANON: YOU ARE WRONG

US official confirms Trump tweeted out photo from intel briefing:

RussInSoCal said...

anon 10:35 - you might want to brush up on your spelling before you call anyone else stupid. LOL

Anonymous said...

Just like you secret squirrel? Still flogging the secret base thing are you?
Bet you were the world's greatest FOUO ranger!

Anonymous said...

Russ,
You could say that's the sign of the "Secret Squirrel". He picked up that habit chairing an "English Department".