I have thoughts about the phone call between President Trump and Gordon Sondland that took place in a Kiev restaurant, according to Amb. Taylor. It's gotten considerable attention because it suggests that Trump was in the loop. But there is another reason that it's notable... /1

When I travelled with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's press pool through the Middle East early this year, we were constantly rushing to and from hotels on very short notice. My understanding is that this was often so Pompeo could take a phone call from Trump... /2

Pompeo would go to a special 4 or 5-star hotel in a foreign capital where an entire floor of rooms had been booked in advance so that the State Dept's diplomatic security could sweep the place and make sure that no one would be listening in on these presidential phone calls... /3

As Pompeo was formerly the director of the CIA, he would know better than most the extreme measures that countries will take to intercept communications from foreign leaders, especially when they are traveling abroad... /4

It's safe to say that a good chunk of the $50 billion that US taxpayers spend each year on the intelligence community's "black budget" goes to fund these efforts -- intercepting foreign communications and making sure that the comms of US leaders are secure... /5

There's not much of a point in laying out all of this cash if the president is going to just call one of his ambassadors, presumably on a cell phone, in a public restaurant located in a foreign capital, especially one as heavily surveilled as Kiev... /6

If the president is going to operate that way, it would be fair to ask what's the point of even having an NSA or a CIA in the first place? In fact, why not just post 24/7 livestreams from the Oval Office and the Situation Room? Okay, that's hyperbole, but you get my point... /7

This episode, if it checks out, makes Sondland and Trump look like complete idiots. To the degree that they're not idiots, they just don't care. Which I would say is even worse. More good points along the same lines here from @nakashimae... /8 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ambassadors-cellphone-call-to-trump-from-kyiv-restaurant-was-a-stunning-breach-of-security-former-officials-say/2019/11/13/37d75752-0641-11ea-b17d-8b867891d39d_story.html

and more on the Pompeo trip here. Thank you, @NYTmag, for sending me ... https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/magazine/mike-pompeo-translates-trump.html