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Cellphones Books Communications Government Networking Republicans United States Technology

White House Bans Use of Personal Devices From West Wing (cbsnews.com) 205

In the wake of damaging reports of a chaotic Trump administration detailed in a new book from Michael Wolff, the White House is instituting new policies on the use of personal cellphones in the West Wing. CBS News reports: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released the following statement on the policy change: "The security and integrity of the technology systems at the White House is a top priority for the Trump administration and therefore starting next week the use of all personal devices for both guests and staff will no longer be allowed in the West Wing. Staff will be able to conduct business on their government-issued devices and continue working hard on behalf of the American people."

Wolff reportedly gained access to the White House where he conducted numerous interviews with staffers on the inner-workings of the Trump campaign and West Wing operations. Sanders told reporters Wednesday that there were about "a dozen" interactions between Wolff and White House officials, which she said took place at Bannon's request. The White House swiftly slammed the book and those who cooperated with Wolff.

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White House Bans Use of Personal Devices From West Wing

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  • by dlleigh ( 313922 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @07:06PM (#55865795)

    Sheesh!

    • by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @07:19PM (#55865893) Journal

      Government for the Idiots, by the Idiots, and of the Idiots.

      Whether 9/10s of what Wolff writes in his book is invention and exaggeration, the fact a guy with his long-established reputation was walking around the White House just baffles me. What the fuck is wrong with Trump's people? Are they all fucking idiots? At every turn, this is an Administration seemingly hell bent on fucking itself over.

      • by Gavagai80 ( 1275204 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @07:30PM (#55865961) Homepage

        What do you expect when you appoint someone to a job for which they have zero relevant experience? It's like making the trash collector your new company CEO.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward

          I don't know, Dilbert as observational commentary about the real world is scary accurate. The smartest character in the strip is the garbage man.

          • by Anonymous Coward

            Not only was dilvert scary accurate. Dilbert's artist is hell bent on promoting and pushing pointy and orange hair incompentant bosses onto the rest of us.

        • by rogoshen1 ( 2922505 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @07:57PM (#55866091)

          the garbage man actually does something, is probably more honest, definitely more empathetic. A company could do worse...

          elop, fiorina for example..

        • by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @08:36PM (#55866319)

          What do you expect when you appoint someone to a job for which they have zero relevant experience? It's like making the trash collector your new company CEO.

          Or "elect" ...

        • by Kiuas ( 1084567 )

          It's like making the trash collector your new company CEO.

          I'd say it's even worse. It's like walking out the door, going to the hobo with the sign that says the aliens are coming because they probed him and making him the CEO. I'm not american but I've been following the shitstorm that is Trump pretty closely and I thought I'd have gotten used to the stupidity by now, but the guy's a walking embodiment of the phrase: 'if you make something idiot proof, God makes a better idiot.' I mean honestly, the guy lit

          • by gtall ( 79522 )

            "a major chunk of the voters is by and large uneducated about basic civics" ... close, it isn't just civics about which they are uneducated. Just look at American TV and see what Americans watch. It isn't far from the truth that a sizable minority decided to vote for someone just like what they see in their reality TV shows, and one who echoes back their own stupid prejudices. And it is obscene when a major political party decides it knows more about science than scientists. This will not end well for Ameri

      • by bigdavex ( 155746 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @07:41PM (#55866005)

        Are they all fucking idiots?

        Yes.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by kilfarsnar ( 561956 )

        Government for the Idiots, by the Idiots, and of the Idiots.

        Whether 9/10s of what Wolff writes in his book is invention and exaggeration, the fact a guy with his long-established reputation was walking around the White House just baffles me. What the fuck is wrong with Trump's people? Are they all fucking idiots? At every turn, this is an Administration seemingly hell bent on fucking itself over.

        Um, you've been watching this administration for the past year or so, right? I'd say the answer is obvious. These people didn't even know they had to hire their own White House staff. https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com] They are completely and profoundly unprepared to do this job.

        • These people didn't even know they had to hire their own White House staff.

          Well to be fair, they weren't expecting to have to do that for the practical reason that they had planned to lose the election. It was Trump's plan to actually lose the election, he was running for the fame and the followers and so he could use them to launch his own right wing news network. I don't know if they were going to try and call it the Trump News Network (TNN) but I'd bet they would have tried.

          It is darkly amusing that Trump managed to screw up losing the presidential election...

    • Out-Of-Towners may not know that NYC gossip columnist Michael Wolff has a bit of a deathwish when it comes to choosing his battles. He took on (in a weirdly, clearly fixated way) Rupert Murdoch with a previous "biographical" tell-all, seeming to have forgotten that Rupie owns the town's biggest tabloid The NY Post. THEN he began diddling one of his interns at Newser, escorting her about to all the city's hottest and most popular spots, because: Michael Wolff. (Those were the days when diddling an intern di

  • Sheeze, couldn't with start 2018 without 17 breaking news from the WH a day?

  • The policy talks about personal phones, but what about things like smart watches?

    Granted, my Pebble Time would be pretty safe, but an iWatch with cellular access can record and broadcast conversations.

  • Does this include the press?

  • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @07:41PM (#55866009)

    ...this is as much security theatre as the TSA.

    And you fucking know it is.

  • The barn is back there. The horse is wayyyy over there.
  • by guygo ( 894298 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @07:52PM (#55866059)
    your hard-core Commie works. A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice.
    They've been monitoring us for a long time, Mandrake. All cell phones must be crushed. All must learn to play the piano.
  • by ErichTheRed ( 39327 ) on Thursday January 04, 2018 @08:15PM (#55866203)

    You know what would be very interesting? Given Trump's paranoid tendencies, and his previous experience as a businessman in the very shady real estate industry, he might be recording all his conversations, Nixon-style. _Those_ would make for some very interesting listening. Business executives record their conversations all the time...they're used to being double-crossed.

    Banning personal devices might limit recording, but every staffer he fires is going to get a book deal just based on their experience. One of the biggest leaks is the personal use of Twitter. Conversations like, "Mr. President, can you please refrain from telegraphing our foreign policy positions and your disposition to adversaries?" must be hard to have, especially when ignored.

  • No More Tweets! No More Tweets!

  • There are areas of all Canadian Embassies where ALL phones (both personal and government) are banned and must be dropped off. All visitors cannot bring personal electronics in. Government officials that are not based at that embassy are not permitted to bring electronics in. If it is just now that the West Wing is implementing it -- then the US government is more lax about security than I thought.
  • by sabbede ( 2678435 ) on Friday January 05, 2018 @08:00AM (#55868037)
    The administration has been talking about banning personal devices in the White House since at least November. Well before Wolff's book was finished. Mentioning Wolff's wholly unrelated book is at best innapropriate and superfluous, at worst it's politically motivated deception.
  • You have a handbag designer 'advising' the president. LOL. Apparently she's going to be president some day too. Wouldn't surprise me.

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