The folly of accepting a bribe^H^H^H^H^H gift from a foreign government and investing over $1 billion dollars to overhaul and transform it into the most advanced mobile command and control facility in the world is nothing short of insanity.
It requires almost no thought to recognize this as folly. It's even more harshly obvious to anyone that has any sort of background in security. In particular, I am reminded of The Thing. The point of bringing it up is not the approach or device itself. The point is that reputable security professionals - especially those involved in national security - are acutely aware of the fact that it is approaching the height of hubris to assume that, given a device, you can reliably ascertain whether or not it is compromised. It is a type of eternal cat-and-mouse game that goes far back in human history (remember the Trojan Horse?)
Modern aircraft are wildly complicated machines - the control and navigation systems alone contain tons of indecipherable integrated circuits, software, and other amazing hardware. To have any sort of hope that the machine is not compromised or bugged, you would need to tear it down to the airframe and reassemble it almost from scratch. And even then, you're not going to be sure.
We have processes setup for manufacturing things like this here in the US. We have processes for vetting workers, suppliers, etc. There exist security clearance requirements for anyone even talking about things like this in any level of detail. And, this has been quite successful as evidenced by our military superiority, the most advanced aerospace industry on the planet, etc etc. The Manhattan Project is probably the single most compelling example here.
Not using this process and safeguards to create the next Air Force One is - again - insane. That one would even consider installing the command and control systems of the largest nuclear arsenal in the world in a vehicle that left the secure possession of that country for even a moment, let alone decades, leaves me dismayed almost to the point of speechlessness. And, it's worth pointing out that we were (are?), in fact, doing this the Right Way (TM). Starting in 2015, plans to create the next Air Force One - a Boeing VC-25B - were set into motion. Delivery is scheduled for 2027, though there have been delays.
But, here we are. Spending even more money on something that isn't even new hardware, lacking any sort of sane basis for security, and pushing the constitutionality of US presidents receiving crap from other countries. Which, even if technically legal, creates the appearance of impropriety. I've never been more disappointed in our "leaders" than now. And to be clear, this is only one thing in a long and growing list of failures, improprieties, and just plain incompetence.
Help refine the foolishness
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