warzones. Such trips are usually kept quiet, with the cooperation of journalists, until the officials arrive in order to ensure maximum security.
A senior
administration official told reporters Sunday evening that Kushner — President
Donald Trump's son-in-law — was in Iraq, even though he was still en route. For
the military and security professionals managing the mission, the public
disclosure of the unannounced trip was a security breach. Gen. Joseph Dunford,
the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, also was on board.
Although the
plane landed safely in Baghdad on Monday, the Iraqi capital is hardly a secure
location, having suffered countless extremist attacks over the years. The
threat is no less acute today as Iraq wages a bitter battle to try to rid the
Islamic State from its territory. For trips to the city, the military seeks to
avoid public mention of plans ahead of time so extremist groups can't plot
attacks.
"It's
been longstanding practice to strictly avoid announcing the visits of senior
U.S. officials in advance of their travels to warzones," said George
Little, a Pentagon and CIA press secretary for Leon Panetta, who managed both
departments under President Barack Obama. "The main reason is obvious. You
want to avoid giving the enemy any information that could help them to target
these delegations, especially in areas where the battle lines aren't clear on
the map."
Knowing when
and where a senior U.S. military or civilian official might arrive makes
attacks easier. Such details could help groups target the plane as it takes off
or lands, or use roadside bombs or shoulder-launched rockets to strike
dignitaries while they're on the ground.
U.S. security
details work with host countries to make sure routes and buildings are secure,
trying to do so in the most inconspicuous manner possible.
The choice of
plane, too, is determined by danger level. In warzones, officials often fly
more rugged combat aircraft, such as the Air Force's heavy C-17 transport
plane. These can take off and land quicker on shorter runways. Steeper,
corkscrew landings are sometimes preferred to minimize the threat from
surface-to-air missiles.
Reporters
cooperate, too. Those traveling with top leaders into conflict areas must keep
the trip secret, with reports generally "embargoed" until landing.
Restrictions can be tighter on rare occasions.
But these
practices all are predicated on the administration not making the trip public
prematurely.
"The
moment of vulnerability is, if they know you're coming, a surface-to-air
missile going after the airplane," said Ari Fleischer, President George W.
Bush's White House press secretary. "If you can diminish the time they
know — and by the time you're there, the whole thing is a flood of security
agents — it makes it almost impossible in theory for them to do anything
bad."
For the Trump
administration, Kushner's voyage marks the second time a secret trip hasn't
gone as planned.
In February,
the White House arranged for Trump to visit Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to
honor the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed a week earlier. In
keeping with the practice of past White Houses, the trip wasn't announced. News
organizations agreed not to report on the trip until after Trump arrived at the
base.
But unlike
past occurrences, Trump left the White House in broad daylight in Marine One
from the South Lawn of the White House, taking off in full view of pedestrians.
The AP was forced to report that Trump had left the building.
For the last
15 years, as Republican and Democratic presidents and Cabinet members have
traveled in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, media have largely adhered to the
unwritten rules.
In 2003, when
then-President George W. Bush secretly traveled to Iraq to see troops on
Thanksgiving Day, about a dozen reporters accompanying him had to hand over
their cellphones, pagers and other electronics upon boarding Air Force One.
They couldn't file stories while Bush was on the ground, only after he left
Iraqi airspace.
There have
been occasional mistakes and misunderstandings. Host countries sometimes spill
the beans and Cabinet members also slip up, though rarely with details about
flights as they're incoming.
Security
incidents aren't uncommon.
When Defense
Secretary Panetta's plane was taxiing after landing in Afghanistan in 2012, an
Afghan contractor hijacked an SUV and tried to run down senior Marine officers
waiting on the ramp to welcome the Pentagon chief. The contractor then set
himself aflame inside the vehicle, forcing the plane to taxi elsewhere on the
runway to avoid the fire.
Officials said
they didn't think the man knew about Panetta's arrival.
FOX NEWS
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