Three years ago, Trump tweeted the above image.
The picture is of a rocket explosion on an Iranian launch pad. The picture was so clear that some speculated that it was drone footage.
Nope. In Trump’s usual grandstanding, self-important way, he tweeted an image photographed by one of America’s most prized intelligence assets: a multi-billion dollar KH-11 classified reconnaissance satellite called USA 224. Picture yourself Commander-in-Chief, getting briefed by top intelligence officials and seeing evidence collected through a billion dollar intelligence program. And your first instinct is to grab your mobile phone with your Cheetos-crusted fingers to snap a picture and wreck the “classified” part of our classified intelligence apparatus.
“We had a photo and I released it, which I have the absolute right to do.”
Donald Trump
“The entire US intelligence community is incredibly averse to letting this information out. The idea that the president would just scream ‘YOLO!’, photograph it and tweet it–is really hard to take.”
Jeffrey Lewis, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
Image: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
