"Wow the intelligence." US Radio NPR reveals story of photo posted by Trump classified as "secret"

"Wow the intelligence." US Radio NPR reveals story of

photo posted by Trump classified as "secret"

Three years ago, former US President Donald Trump posted a photo on Twitter, leaving US intelligence experts distraught, as it was classified as "secret."

NPR reported that the image belonged to a missile that

• exploded on a launch pad deep inside Iran.

• The picture was so clear that some initially thought it

• might not have been taken by satellite.

Aerospace experts reported that it was captured using one of America's most valuable intelligence devices, a secret spacecraft called USA 224, widely believed to be a multibillion-dollar reconnaissance satellite.

Now :

• three years after Trump's tweet

• the National Intelligence Agency officially declassified the original photo

• and the declassification was the result of

• a request linked to the Freedom of Information Act by NPR Radio.

Many details about the original image remain anonymous

but reveal that Trump was posting some of America's most valuable intelligence on social media, says Stephen Aftergood, a confidentiality and classification specialist at the Federation of American Scientists.

Aftrgood says Trump was interested in sensitive intelligence on Iran and the first thing he does is post it on Twitter.

The revelation comes just days

after Trump announced his presidential bid in 2024

following the confiscation by the FBI in August of boxes of more than a hundred secret records, stored at Trump's Mara Lago resort in Florida.

Some of these documents are said to

have been linked to Iran, according to the Washington Post.

According to reports

• Trump saw the photo for the first time as part of

• a daily intelligence briefing the morning

• after the Iranian launch failed.

After posting the photo on Twitter

Trump said he had done nothing wrong, telling reporters at the time: "We had a photo and I posted it, which I absolutely have the right to do."

Cardillo :

• who now works as a senior executive at commercial satellite company Planet

• says the images are no longer as secret as they used to be.

• The proliferation of commercial imaging satellites means that

the public now has regular access to comparable,

if not good :

• overhead views such as US government satellites.

• During his career

• he saw that the ratings levels of spy satellite imagery fade.

"Because there are so many commercial images

I feel there is less sensitivity," he says.

But this image was still secret

1. and Lewis says that her vision may
2. have been disseminated to
3. the relevant intelligence agencies.

"The entire American intelligence community

is incredibly averse to disclosing this information,"

Lewis says.

• "The idea that the President will scream" YOLO! "

• depicts and tweets them

• they are really difficult to reach."

Cardillo says he's sure other countries have

used Trump's image on Twitter to learn more about

what American spy satellites can do.

For example, if Putin tweeted a photo from a Russian satellite, he says the United States would have formed a task force to learn all that they could.

If Trump had tweeted, he said

 "I suppose Russia would have done the same

and Iran would have done the same."

Aftergood says the latest release "confirms a kind of recklessness on the part of former President Trump and also a lack of respect for the incredible intelligence he was receiving."

For Lewis :

the incident tells us about Trump's ability to handle classified documents as he heads into the 2024 presidential race.

"I'm not going to tell this guy any information I want to keep secret," Lewis says. "The idea that he can once again access confidential information of concern."

National Public Radio

• National Public Radio is an American non-profit

• privately and publicly funded media organization

• a national network of 900 public broadcasters in the United States of America

• founded in 1971 and headquartered in Washington.