News of Iraq trip with Kushner midair poses security risks

Knowing when and where a senior U.S. military or civilian official might arrive makes attacks easier. Such details could help groups target the plane as it takes off or lands, or use roadside bombs or shoulder-launched rockets to strike dignitaries while they’re on the ground.

U.S. security details work with host countries to make sure routes and buildings are secure, trying to do so in the most inconspicuous manner possible.

The choice of plane, too, is determined by danger level. In warzones, officials often fly more rugged combat aircraft, such as the Air Force’s heavy C-17 transport plane. These can take off and land quicker on shorter runways. Steeper, corkscrew landings are sometimes preferred to minimize the threat from surface-to-air missiles.

Reporters co-operate, too. Those travelling with top leaders into conflict areas must keep the trip secret, with reports generally “embargoed” until landing. Restrictions can be tighter on rare occasions.

But these practices all are predicated on the administration not making the trip public prematurely.

“The moment of vulnerability is, if they know you’re coming, a surface-to-air missile going after the airplane,” said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush’s White House press secretary. “If you can diminish the time they know — and by the time you’re there, the whole thing is a flood of security agents — it makes it almost impossible in theory for them to do anything bad.”

For the Trump administration, Kushner’s voyage marks the second time a secret trip hasn’t gone as planned.

In February, the White House arranged for Trump to visit Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to honour the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed a week earlier. In keeping with the practice of past White Houses, the trip wasn’t announced. News organizations agreed not to report on the trip until after Trump arrived at the base.

But unlike past occurrences, Trump left the White House in broad daylight in Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, taking off in full view of pedestrians. The AP was forced to report that Trump had left the building.

For the last 15 years, as Republican and Democratic presidents and Cabinet members have travelled in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, media have largely adhered to the unwritten rules.

In 2003, when then-President George W. Bush secretly travelled to Iraq to see troops on Thanksgiving Day, about a dozen reporters accompanying him had to hand over their cellphones, pagers and other electronics upon boarding Air Force One. They couldn’t file stories while Bush was on the ground, only after he left Iraqi airspace.

There have been occasional mistakes and misunderstandings. Host countries sometimes spill the beans and Cabinet members also slip up, though rarely with details about flights as they’re incoming.

Security incidents aren’t uncommon.

When Defence Secretary Panetta’s plane was taxiing after landing in Afghanistan in 2012, an Afghan contractor hijacked an SUV and tried to run down senior Marine officers waiting on the ramp to welcome the Pentagon chief. The contractor then set himself aflame inside the vehicle, forcing the plane to taxi elsewhere on the runway to avoid the fire.

Officials said they didn’t think the man knew about Panetta’s arrival.

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Associated Press writers Josh Lederman in Washington and Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed.

Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

News of Iraq trip with Kushner midair poses security risks

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