Twitter Leaked Obama's Visit To Afghanistan 177
hypnosec writes "When you're the President of the United States, sometimes certain activities you're involved in can be hard to keep secret — and yesterday was no exception, after Twitter let it slip that Obama was secretly in Kabul. On Tuesday, the White House released a fabricated itinerary — consisting of all-day meetings in the Oval Office to cover up the fact that Obama was secretly flying to Afghanistan. Whilst only a few US journalists were aware of this event, by mid-morning, a lot more people were suddenly in on the revelation courtesy of Twitter. The first tweet to let the virtual cat out of the bag was Afghanistan news site TOLOnews which reported: 'United States President Barack Obama has arrived in Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai.'"
Re:headline incorrect (Score:4, Informative)
You'd think that'd be natively understood, but we'll see posts later in this article about how Twitter's bad, etc.
Re:Why fabricate this? (Score:5, Informative)
As would be for any head of state flying into a warzone.
You don't really want to give some nutjob with a Stinger the landing time and flightpath, do you?
Re:Memes (Score:4, Informative)
Presidential visits to Iraq and Afghanistan have been unannounced for as long as I can remember, this is not unusual.
Re:headline incorrect (Score:4, Informative)
Look, Airforce One is hardly a stealth aircraft, especially when trailed by a constantly refueled squadron of Airforce / Navy fighters.
The flight plan that AF1 files is not always as AF1, sometimes they fly "incognito", under a different callsign and as a different aircraft type. There is a famous incident when a British Airways pilot accidentally does a visual identification of AF1 over the atlantic while Bush was flying to Bagdad, and is being told that the 747 is in fact a little Gulfstream by AF1 pilots.
BA Pilot: "Did I just see Air Force One?" the pilot radioed.
AF1: "Gulfstream 5" -- a much smaller aircraft.
BA: "Oh..."
So when ATC routes AF1 around the most common tracks it can stay "incognito".
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/12/01/bush.pilot.reut/index.html [cnn.com]
Re:So? (Score:5, Informative)
President Obama made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan on the first anniversary of the the killing of Osama bin Laden and signed a security agreement that pledges U.S. support through 2024