A clandestine operation to conceal President Trump's location in Turkey involved an extraordinary use of a decoy Air Force One, a maneuver described by security experts as unprecedented by presidential standards. The decoy aircraft carried White House staff and journalists, while the president traveled separately and in secret.
Jake Tapper, an anchor for CNN, highlighted on Tuesday that while previous White Houses have employed deception to protect a president's life, the use of a decoy Air Force One with a full contingent of staff and journalists during an imminent threat was unheard of among officials he had consulted. "We need to keep the ‘secret’ in Secret Service," Ronald L. Rowe Jr., a former acting director of the Secret Service, told The Washington Post. He added that while the public should be aware of the president's daily activities, the methods used for the president's safety should remain confidential.
Robert McDonald, who served with the Secret Service for over two decades, suggested to TIME that the operation in Turkey likely stemmed from real-time improvisation by the president's security detail. He also expressed skepticism that the journalists on the decoy Air Force One were placed at significant risk. For several hours, the president's actual whereabouts were unknown to and concealed from both the White House press pool and the American public.