The New York Times tracked Trump's movements through his Secret Service agent's cell phone
A trove of cell phone location data obtained by The New York Times allowed the newspaper to trace the movements and deduce the identities of Secret Service agents, members of the intelligence community, and high-ranking congressional and national security staffers, a report revealed Friday.
Among those the Times was able to track was a member of President Trump's Secret Service entourage who moved with the president from his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, to the nearby Trump National Golf Club for a round on the links with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to a third Trump property, the Trump International Golf Club, for lunch, and then back to Mar-a-Lago.
"Americans have grown eerily accustomed to being tracked throughout their digital lives," the Times story comments, as phone data collection is often "hidden from consumers" or "done without the full knowledge of the device holders." Many ordinary apps, some with no apparent need for location data, constantly track users' movements without their realization. Federal security agencies have rules in place to protect employees' privacy and limit opportunities for leaks, blackmail, or attack, but enforcement is difficult and inconsistent.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I'm wary of breathless, pearl-clutching, speculative, sensationalistic counterintelligence concerns," David Kris, a former Justice Department official, told the Times. "This doesn't strike me as falling into that category. I think there is a legitimate concern here."
Read the full story at The New York Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
11 hotels opening in 2026 to help you reconnect with natureThe Week Recommends Find peace on the beaches of Mexico and on a remote Estonian island
-
Zimbabwe’s driving crisisUnder the Radar Southern African nation is experiencing a ‘public health disaster’ with one of the highest road fatality rates in the world
-
The Mint’s 250th anniversary coins face a whitewashing controversyThe Explainer The designs omitted several notable moments for civil rights and women’s rights
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
-
House GOP revolt forces vote on ACA subsidiesSpeed Read The new health care bill would lower some costs but not extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
