Trump's Freebie Qatar Jet is a nightmare scenario in Spyworld

(Bloomberg) -Qatar's offer of a luxury -Boeing 747 to President Donald Trump has triggered alarm bells within the US secret services and the diplomatic community, in which gifts from foreign powers have long been suspected.

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Apart from any legal and ethical concerns that Trump accepts the plane-a 89-seater with a magnificent, French-designed interior-there are also technical and safety-relevant concerns. Experts say that such a gift on behalf of a foreign government travel opportunities for surveillance, persecution or compromises by the president and everyone.

“If we had built the plane and knew that it would go to a foreign government, we would probably have it,” said Thad Troy, a former head of station of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Troy remembered when he worked from the cold war from the Cold War in the Moscow when the American message was broken down by brick to remove a tangle of surveillance devices that were embedded in the concrete of the building.

Senator Mark Warner, the Supreme Democrat in the intelligence agency, called the acceptance of the gift “incredibly ruthless”.

“A plane provided by abroad presents a variety of potential security risks, from monitoring equipment to compromised communication systems, and the thorough review of such a aircraft for espionage tools or security concerns would be almost impossible,” he said in a statement on Wednesday about Bloomberg News.

In his first term, Trump ordered two new Boeing Co. presidential aircraft for 3.9 billion dollars. He was frustrated with delays in deliveries and was looking for alternatives – and apparently had the Qataric aircraft in mind, even before it was offered as a gift this month.

Parisian finish

The jumbo in question, which was built in 2012, was previously on the call for Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani. The 66-year-old is one of the richest personalities of the Qatar Royal Family, who worked as Prime Minister and Head of Sovereign Wealth Fund.

It has cream white and brown furniture, carpets and works of art by Cabinet Alberto Pinto, an interior in Paris. There are custom-made Tai-Ping carpets, Sycamore and Wacapou wood lights and works of art by Alexander Calder. The upper deck has a main bedroom and a bathroom, a guest room and a private lounge. On the ground floor there is lounges, an office and an area of occupation.

According to Troy, the plane would have to be retrofitted in standards that Air Force One currently maintains. This would include hardening its surface to withstand explosions and attacks, as well as technical extras such as air-air recruitment functions and classified communication and weapon systems.

It would also take months, if not years, until the Ministry of Department does not take the aircraft apart for years and the Ministry of Defense and that it can be thoroughly sweeping for chasing equipment or monitoring systems that could reveal the aircraft location, among other things.

“That's why it takes so long to build Air Force One,” said Troy. “There have been so many things to make the president secure.”

“Such a stain”

Trump, who accused Boeing of falling “far behind”, defended the gift.

“Some people say oh, they shouldn't accept gifts for the country,” said President Fox News on the way to Saudi Arabia, where he started a visit to the Middle East on Tuesday. “My attitude is, why should I not accept a gift? We give everyone else.” He also said that golf monarchies have larger and newer aircraft than the American government and “I think we should have the most impressive plane”.

However, some of the most violent criticisms come from committed supporters who have described it as bribes or a brazen advance on the influence of the golf state.

Commentator Ben Shapiro asked how Trump voters would react if a democrat had done this. “I think if we changed the names on Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, we would all freak out on the right,” said Shapiro in his podcast on Monday. “President Trump promised to dismiss the swamp. In fact, this is not the swamp.”

“This will really be such a stain on the administrator if this is true,” said right -wing extremist activist Laura Loomer on X. “And I say that as someone who would take a ball for Trump.”

Qatar is a long -time US ally and, together with Egypt, was an important mediator to convey a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The country also houses the political office of Hamas. Relationships like these represent a risk “in terms of potential information in the hands of people who would use it for their own purposes,” says James Derian, who heads the Center for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney in Australia.

“Of course, Qatar is not the Soviet Union, but it has a fairly robust intelligence footprint,” he said. “It strikes about its weight.”

However, although there are dangers to accept gifts from foreign governments, it is also not risk -free. Since gifts in the Arab culture is important, it could be a diplomatic error-especially if Qatar plays such an important role in the search for an end to the Gaza council.

That is why “this level has accepted so much symbolic value at the moment,” said the Derian. Garbage the gift, and “there could be many angered managers – not only the USA, but also Qatar and other Arab countries that believe a very important part of their culture for hospitality.”

(Updates with Warner declaration in the fifth and sixth paragraphs)

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