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Comment by Afforess | Hacker News Reader

You don't have to imagine. Trump leaked a satellite photo from a spy satellite last year. Wired has a great piece on it: https://www.wired.com/story/trump-tweeted-a-sensitive-photo-...

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The president doesn't leak per se. He's the ultimate authority on classification, therefore by releasing top secret material he has declassified it.

Trump disclosed something that he should not have done and wouldn't have done if he had a brain in his head. Not technically leaking is separate from something that did not help the country. It was a stupid action - of course not your point.

First, the picture was not released in full resolution. It was a photo of a print of a photo.

Second, there is also value to letting your adversaries know what you are capable of. Just think of the hassle of hiding activities from a satellite like that - surely it takes a huge operational toll.

No matter what, it sounds to me like releasing the picture is within the presidential oversight. He was not naming spies or anything.

What was so stupid about the action? Do you know what, say, Iran or China knows about American satellites?

You seem to imply that the President is more aware of what information is available than the DOD. The DOD has never released non-degraded imagery. So it would seem stupid as it is contrary to standard security practice.

Are you suggesting it was ok for this pic to be released, and why?

Yes, I know that they know the precise location and imaging capabilities of the classified USA 224 reconnaissance satellite, thanks to this boneheaded security leak by the President of the United States of America.

Orange man bad

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