We knew that Hegseth didn't understand (or didn't believe in) security. It's not surprising that Trump, who had highly classified documents laying around in Mar a Lago, doesn't either.
Years ago, I was in a classified meeting in a SCIF when someone's cell phone went off. The person was immediately escorted out of the room--probably their clearance was revoked, and they were told not to come back. Having a cell phone in a SCIF is bad enough, having it go off inside the SCIF is even worse--and answering it during a classified meeting (or just answering it inside a SCIF) is cause for trouble big.
xlii · 3h ago
In case anyone else didn’t know: SCIF stands for "sensitive compartmented information facility" (I assume ;))
The thing with security is that usually people treat it like a joke or very very seriously. I think that was the latter.
sitzkrieg · 1h ago
i have seen someone lose their clearance and sap after wearing a fitbit into the doorway
FL410 · 3h ago
Why would a cell phone even work in a SCIF?
sitzkrieg · 1h ago
its not a faraday cage. just built to spec
HappySweeney · 3h ago
I'm a bit surprised the entire thing isn't in a faraday cage.
russdill · 3h ago
If the door is open, signals can get in. Additionally, "gone off" could mean an alarm
ModernMech · 3h ago
Huh... I had always imagined SCIFs were like faraday cages, so a cell phone wouldn't be able to send or receive any signals.
derektank · 3h ago
That would be prohibitively expensive in most cases.
ck2 · 3h ago
All the so-called "guardrails" are long gone now
It's just down to a handful of people able to get the Tyrant King to sign off on anything they put in front of him
The scariest perspective is this is only 150 days in.
So imagine what happens 150 weeks later when all bets are off and "sure why not who would stop us" kicks in.
I am truly morbidly curious what happens to a country when 15+ million people disappear in just four years though.
beefnugs · 2h ago
huh i thought this new cheap mystery meat would be crickets, but this tastes like mexican
Or the slightly more humanitarian version: Damn all those crocodiles are huge now, at least they kept the cute hats we put on them
subjectsigma · 2h ago
Makes me rabidly furious. “Rules for thee, but not for me.”
jrs235 · 1h ago
The laws and rules are now selectively enforced only against those that don't submit to the head of enforcement. The head of enforcement may ignore the laws however they wish...
Four legs good. Two legs better.
sitzkrieg · 2h ago
so much for need to know. lets peruse the boxes he packed out LOL
rayiner · 3h ago
“Military leaders” who fucked up every war in my lifetime aghast that hyper-competent billionaire breaks protocol.
isk517 · 3h ago
Please explain the ways the military leaders fucked up the wars. I'm only 40 so I may not have lived through as many wars as you but the actual 'war' parts of the wars that have involved the US seem to have gone off without a hitch. It was winning the peace that proved difficult and that is a responsibility that falls on the politicians.
Whoppertime · 2h ago
Well to start off the cold war timeline. The Greek civil war was an American victory, then China fell to the Communists and we spent decades arguing who lost China. Then the Soviets let off Joe 1 and it turns out the Manhattan project was heavily infiltrated by Soviet Spies which made the American nuclear monopoly a short foot note. The combination of those 2 factors resulted in the Korean War. Which was looking like all of Korea would be lost, then all of Korea could be gained until China entered, resulting in a tie. The lessons learned from Korea made the next war in the region the Vietnam War politically constrained, which succeeded in preventing China from entering the war directly like they did in Korea, but resulted in the entire country of Vietnam being lost to the Communists which was a worse outcome than the tie that was Korea.
The Gulf Wars learned the lessons of Vietnam, and the constrained vision of keeping Saddam out of Kuwait meant there was no quagmire. Kosovo was also a success, as there was regime change for the better in the former Yugoslavia.
The 2000s after 9/11 were some "fucked up wars", the US military seemed to have learned the lessons from the 90s that they should have gone farther with regime change, and forgot the lessons of the Vietnam War. Taking down Saddam didn't result in a more stable Iraq, Iraq didn't turn into a flourishing democracy. After the US withdrew from the country under Obama you have the emergence of ISIS. Obama also helped decapitate Gaddafi's regime, which made Libya less stable. The actual war parts may be successful but if they're not achieving political or strategic goals those wins do not matter.
There's an apocryphal tale of an American and a North Vietnamese general after the war:
American: “You never beat us once.”
North Vietnamese: “True, but irrelevant.”
pupppet · 3h ago
Hyper-competent billionaire? You mean the guy who got rich off his quasi-dating app?
fhdkweig · 3h ago
I choose to believe he meant hyper-"confident".
pachorizons · 3h ago
The guy who bought his competition and spent billions on an ugly VR rebrand? Lmfao ok.
sugarpimpdorsey · 3h ago
This description of the oval office as some super-secret meeting space seems like a gross mischaracterization in an attempt to fabricate a controversy or gain clicks.
I mean, it has windows.
If this was true, the situation room wouldn't exist.
The oval office seems more like a busy CEO's office with an open door policy. Bill Maher confirmed on his podcast the current administration turned the annex (where blowjobs were dispensed during the Clinton years) into the merch room where they store the red hats.
yks · 3h ago
Random individuals without clearance and sometimes with ties to Russia (talking about DOGE here) have access to all government IT systems, including databases of the military personnel, and the military leaders are now aghast at Zuck? I don't know how people can take "clearance" or "classified" seriously anymore.
bediger4000 · 2h ago
Yes. "Security violations" are just another set of laws that bind, but does not protect, any member of an outgroup.
ModernMech · 2h ago
It's incredible, because the entire basis laid out by the media and Republicans to reject Clinton in 2016 was that she would not respect security protocols. 10 years later and all the people who said she can't be POTUS because she would give secrets away to Russia are now doing the same as her and worse.
CamperBob2 · 1h ago
Exactly. Every accusation from a Republican is either a confession in disguise, a plan in progress, or an unfulfilled wish.
Years ago, I was in a classified meeting in a SCIF when someone's cell phone went off. The person was immediately escorted out of the room--probably their clearance was revoked, and they were told not to come back. Having a cell phone in a SCIF is bad enough, having it go off inside the SCIF is even worse--and answering it during a classified meeting (or just answering it inside a SCIF) is cause for trouble big.
The thing with security is that usually people treat it like a joke or very very seriously. I think that was the latter.
It's just down to a handful of people able to get the Tyrant King to sign off on anything they put in front of him
The scariest perspective is this is only 150 days in.
So imagine what happens 150 weeks later when all bets are off and "sure why not who would stop us" kicks in.
I am truly morbidly curious what happens to a country when 15+ million people disappear in just four years though.
Or the slightly more humanitarian version: Damn all those crocodiles are huge now, at least they kept the cute hats we put on them
Four legs good. Two legs better.
American: “You never beat us once.”
North Vietnamese: “True, but irrelevant.”
I mean, it has windows.
If this was true, the situation room wouldn't exist.
The oval office seems more like a busy CEO's office with an open door policy. Bill Maher confirmed on his podcast the current administration turned the annex (where blowjobs were dispensed during the Clinton years) into the merch room where they store the red hats.