Twitter Leaked Obama's Visit To Afghanistan

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Twitter Leaked Obama's Visit To Afghanistan

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday May 2, 2012 @06:22AM from the was-that-a-secret? dept.

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.'"

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headline incorrect by Klync · 2012-05-02 06:25 · Score: 5, Insightful

I love to hate on twitter as much as the next slashdotter, but the summary makes it clear that the headline is incorrect and misleading, possibly to the point of damaging Twitter's reputation. What you *meant* to say was:

Afghanistan news site TOLOnews Leaked Obama's Visit To Afghanistan (via Twitter)

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Not to be confused with Col.
1. Re:headline incorrect by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2012-05-02 06:29 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You'd think that'd be natively understood, but we'll see posts later in this article about how Twitter's bad, etc.
  
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  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
2. Re:headline incorrect by amRadioHed · 2012-05-02 06:39 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I wouldn't expect anyone to understand it without reading the article, the headline is just plain wrong.
  
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  We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
3. Re:headline incorrect by gstoddart · 2012-05-02 06:48 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  An even more accurate way to look at it is "Obama's security team fails to do its job".
  How the hell do you keep something like moving POTUS a secret? The convoy and Airforce One aren't exactly subtle.
  Once this information is known by anybody, it can just as easily become public ... more so with things like Twitter.
  
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  Lost at C:>. Found at C.
4. Re:headline incorrect by icebike · 2012-05-02 07:00 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  This is still a bit concerning. If the media saw AF1 land, that's one thing. If the media got wind of the POTUS arriving from the current Afghan Administration or Intelligence agencies, they have some leaks that need fixing and US Security and Intel should take note.
  As for Twitter? Their role here was the non-story. Sorry.
  Look, Airforce One is hardly a stealth aircraft, especially when trailed by a constantly refueled squadron of Airforce / Navy fighters.
  There is no route to Afghanistan that does not cross some other country's air space, and you can bet that not every single air traffic controller between here and Kabul keeps his mouth shut all the time. The miracle is that Obama could get from the Whitehouse to the airport with no one leaking that info on twitter.
  In this world, expectations of surprise visits are all to be taken with a wink and an nod. Even when the press in in a feeding frenzy over the Secret Service's bimbo in Colombia, this visit was well known in the US Press.
  Its amazing that Twitter didn't break the news first. (It probably did, but nobody noticed).
  
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  Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
5. Re:headline incorrect by petersam · 2012-05-02 07:05 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I'm not even sure that "leaked" is the correct word to use. He was in Afghanistan. It's hard to hide Air Force One, the motorcade, etc. They were reporting the news, i.e. what they're expected to do.
6. Re:headline incorrect by boaworm · 2012-05-02 07:18 · Score: 3, 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
  
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7. Re:headline incorrect by krotkruton · 2012-05-02 07:22 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Why is everyone complaining so much about the headline when there is clearly a bigger issue at hand? We need to hunt down this mysterious Twitter (which I can only assume is a pseudo-name to hide his/her real identity) person immediately he/she is able to leak more information.
8. Re:headline incorrect by Hartree · 2012-05-02 10:05 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  No, but it might devolve into a thread about Drudge. Most US web sites took down the story after they were contacted by the WhiteHouse. Drudge didn't take it down.
  See:
  http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/02/politics/obama-media-afghanistan/
Twitter is a communication medium by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-02 06:30 · Score: 5, Funny

Substitute another (imagine "Telephone leaked Obama's Visit to Afghanistan") to see how truly silly your headline is.
Memes by Quiet_Desperation · 2012-05-02 06:36 · Score: 5, Funny

More like TROLOLOLONews, amirite?
(crickets)
Ah, the hell with ya.
Anyway, it wasn't leaked until he was on the ground in Kabul? Is that so bad?
1. Re:Memes by amRadioHed · 2012-05-02 06:53 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Presidential visits to Iraq and Afghanistan have been unannounced for as long as I can remember, this is not unusual.
  
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  We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
Re:Why fabricate this? by YrWrstNtmr · 2012-05-02 06:47 · Score: 4, Informative

The president flying into an active warzone is usually kept secret.
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:So? by schwit1 · 2012-05-02 07:25 · Score: 4, 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