'Utterly shocking': National security experts say Trump is making foreign intelligence agencies' jobs much easier

pulse

February 13, 2017 11:47 PM

Trump and Abe sat in front of paying members of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort Saturday when they were briefed on North Korea's recent missile test.

President Donald Trump (R) during a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada.

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sat in front of paying members of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort Saturday when they were briefed on North Korea's recent missile test.

Cell-phone lights pointed toward sensitive documents. One of the attendees took photos of the scene, uploading them to Facebook. The decision-making process came in "CNN reported.

That has alarmed national security experts who say Trump is sending a message to foreign intelligence agencies that he is willing to receive sensitive or classified information in an insecure space.

Juliette Kayyem, a national security analyst who served as

Two of the administration's top officials, including

John Cook, a journalist, said on Twitter that "we used to put our phones in fridges to talk about Snowden docs at The Intercept. These ... are POINTING THEIR PHONES at class[ified] info."

It is unclear if Trump had his unsecured Android phone with him during the briefing, which he still carries around with him to send tweets, according to The New York Times. The unsecured phone is susceptible to phishing attacks that could infect the phone with malware, which is capable of taking over the phone's camera and microphone.

Former White House photographer Pete Souza, who regularly traveled with President Obama, wrote on Instagram on Monday that "w

The White House sought to put to rest the mounting questions over the pop-up strategy session late Monday, telling CNN in a statement that the leaders were not discussing anything classified and rather were focusing on the logistics of the presser.

But Trump's laid-back approach to intelligence briefings began even before he was sworn in. In December, reports emerged that Trump was skipping his daily presidential briefings, and had only had a handful since he was elected one month before. Vice President Mike Pence, in contrast, opted for roughly six briefings per week, according to Reuters.

In any case, Saturday's incident "is likely to increase dinner reservation bookings at Mar-a-Lago by foreign intelligence agencies," Stephen Biddle, a

"During the Cold War, intelligence agencies went to elaborate lengths to plant bugs in places where less senior officials than the President were likely to hold conversations," added Biddle, a professor of political science at George Washington University who

So we can expect that they will take advantage of the much easier job of keeping eavesdroppers within range of the Presidential table in settings like this if the President insists on holding policy discussions in such places," he said.

pulse