A few weeks back there was a smattering of reports about cellphone monitoring devices in Washington, DC. No one knew whose they were, but there wasn't any doubt about what they were.
The technology, a cell-tower simulator commonly known as a StingRay, has been deployed for years by federal and local law enforcement to pinpoint suspects’ locations, though its unauthorized use in the Washington area raises fears that foreign adversaries might also be taking advantage of it to spy on U.S. citizens.
The simulators work by tricking cellphones nearby to register with them, rather than normal cell towers. Once the device finds the phone it is seeking, it can pinpoint the phone’s location. Some versions of the technology can also be used to eavesdrop on calls.
Toss the dice on whose phone they're monitoring, but here's a big hint: Donald J. Trump uses an unsecured cell phone to tweet and talk. Maybe he calls Sean Hannity on it late at night, or maybe he tweets from it during Fox & Friends. But it is apparently just "too inconvenient" for him to bother having it checked to see if it's been hacked, or to secure it.
The president uses at least two iPhones, according to one of the officials. The phones – one capable only of making calls, the other equipped only with the Twitter app and pre-loaded with a handful of news sites – are issued by White House Information Technology and the White House Communications Agency, an office staffed by military personnel that oversees White House telecommunications.
While aides have urged the president to swap out the Twitter phone on a monthly basis, Trump has resisted their entreaties, telling them it was “too inconvenient,” the same administration official said.
The president has gone as long as five months without having the phone checked by security experts. It is unclear how often Trump’s call-capable phones, which are essentially used as burner phones, are swapped out.
Does anyone believe he's not yakking with Hannity, Steve Bannon, reporters, and Roger Stone on those phones? Never mind collusion, he's just plain stubborn and dumb.
It's only national security at risk, after all. Who me, worry?
