Inside Trump’s Mysterious Air Force One Security Move

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Ditch the clowns on the left.

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And the jokers on the right.

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And join Michael Smerconish right here, in the middle.

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This is The Smerconish Podcast for Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (1:12)
Last week we had a lot of conversation about the movement of President Trump off Air Force One, or that which would be conventionally regarded as Air Force One in Turkey because of the security threat that was presented by Iran. That story continues to have legs with new revelations. A follow up from The Washington Post that I saw just this morning. The four journalists interviewed by The Post who were aboard that plane said they noticed anomalies before and during the flight.
Three of the journalists said they noticed the catering truck on the tarmac, which was unusually close to the plane, but did not divine its purpose.
Once the plane was airborne, flight staff asked everybody to lower their window shades to keep them lowered but declined to give an explanation about the purpose of the request when asked. Some of the journalists said the request was unusual for a diplomatic visit and said they had only experienced requests like this when flying in and out of war zones. Still, another journalist noticed that Trump climbed the plane's stairs briskly, reaching the top before the press motorcade parked on the tarmac. Another was surprised that Trump chose not to gaggle or brief the press on the first part of the two-leg flight after they switched to the new, the Qatari-gifted Air Force One in Britain. Much later at night, Trump opted to speak to reporters. I've been wondering, what does a trained hand, what does an experienced eye, think about this whole story and what light could such an individual shed on this and other instances for the rest of us? I have the perfect person to ask. In Steve Atkiss, who served in the Bush White House as Special Assistant to the President for Operations in the Chief of Staff's Office. He'll tell us exactly what that means in a moment. He was deeply involved in coordinating presidential travel, security, military, law enforcement and national security operations. Accompanied President Bush on hundreds of trips, often serving as Trip Director aboard Air Force One. This is Steve Atkiss. Steve, thank you so much for being here.

**Steve Atkiss** (3:21)
Good to be here. Thanks for having me.

**Michael Smerconish** (3:23)
Tell me what is a Trip Director on? Is that like the Captain Stubing of Air Force One? I'm dating myself with that reference.

**Steve Atkiss** (3:33)
Yeah, before my time for sure.

**Michael Smerconish** (3:37)
It's the love boat, the love boat.

**Steve Atkiss** (3:40)
Okay, gotcha.
Yeah, I mean, it's a community of organizations that come together to support the president when he travels. That could be military support entities like the ones that are most well known, Air Force One and Marine One. It's the security entities, obviously the most well known of that being the Secret Service and then all of the staff components, whether that be the National Security Council or the political staff or other policy staff at the White House. And all of those organizations have a role to play in helping the president do what he's trying to do, the whole purpose of going on a trip in the first place. The trip director's job is to bring all that together in the planning process to make sure that everybody's got their chop and that it's going the way that would produce the most favorable outcome for all entities. And then on the trip itself, being on the plane, riding in the motorcade, it's working in real time to deal with situations that present themselves, whether that be the president's personal preference, hey, I'd like to do this or I'd like to see this person or I'd like to change something about the plan, or if it's a situation that's evolving, and that could certainly involve security risks that present themselves over the course of the trip.