Security concerns raised over Trump’s Qatar-gifted Air Force One

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump faced renewed scrutiny over the safety of his Qatar-gifted Air Force One after travelling home from a NATO summit on an older presidential aircraft earlier this week.

Trump has repeatedly highlighted the retrofitted Boeing 747-8, which made its first trip outside the United States when it flew him to Ankara. But in Turkey, he unexpectedly said the aircraft would be sent ahead to a British airbase, explaining that the change would allow US troops to tour the luxury jet.

The aircraft did not carry the same defensive systems as the older Air Force One planes, including anti-missile protections. US media outlets also reported that the Secret Service had recommended the switch to the older aircraft.

Questions around the plane intensified as tensions between the United States and Iran had escalated again, while Turkey shares a border with Iran. Journalists travelling on the older aircraft from Ankara were also instructed to keep their window blinds down, a precaution usually associated with war zones.

Trump rejected the suggestion that the move reflected security worries. However, after returning to the newer plane for the journey from the United Kingdom to Washington, he referenced claimed Iranian assassination plots.

You're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with.

he said.

Several of its reporters had received subpoenas from the Trump administration after it published its report on the aircraft. David McCraw, the newspaper’s senior newsroom lawyer, criticised the move.

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.

McCraw said.

White House defends aircraft

The White House said the aircraft was safe for presidential travel. In a statement issued to AFP on Friday, Communications Director Steven Cheung described the new Air Force One as a modern aircraft equipped with strong security arrangements for the president and staff.

The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff.

Cheung said.

As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.

In a separate but similar statement to some US media on Thursday, Cheung said those tools included distraction and misdirection, in what appeared to be a reference to the aircraft change. The Secret Service directed questions to the White House.

Although US officials do not publicly detail such systems, the older Air Force One aircraft are widely reported to carry advanced defensive equipment capable of disrupting enemy radar and infrared tracking. They are also said to include dispensers for chaff, which can divert radar-guided missiles, and flares designed to counter heat-seeking missiles.

It remains unclear which, if any, of those protections are installed on the Qatari aircraft. It does not have some of the specialised external fairings visible on the older planes.

Political and security questions persist

Qatar’s royal family donated the luxury aircraft last year after Trump complained about the condition of the two Boeing 747 jets that have served as Air Force One since 1990. The plane was then quickly modified and carried Trump for the first time on July 1, when he flew to North Dakota.

The US military had earlier acknowledged that compromises were made to speed up the aircraft’s entry into service, particularly in relation to interior features. In a June statement, the US Air Force said:

No risk was taken in security, safety or mission communications, but the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, wrote to the Air Force on the day Trump arrived in Turkey, seeking answers over what they called real national security concerns linked to the aircraft.

Former US security officials have also voiced reservations. Retired Brigadier General John Teichert, a former US Air Force assistant deputy under secretary, told Fox News that a retrofitted Qatari plane could not match an aircraft purpose-built as Air Force One.

No matter what you do to retrofit a Qatari jet, it's never going to be built from scratch to have the defensive capabilities like a tailor-made Air Force One.

Teichert said.

The Qatari aircraft is being used as an interim solution until two newly built Boeing Air Force One planes are delivered later this decade after a series of delays. After that, it is expected to be donated to Trump’s planned presidential library. The gift, said to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has also prompted ethical questions over whether a sitting US president should accept or use such a donation from a foreign government.