Leaked call on Ukraine made on unencrypted cellphones -U.S. officials

[Jesus Malverde]

Source: Reuters

A senior U.S. State Department officer and the ambassador to Ukraine apparently used unencrypted cellphones for a call about political developments in Ukraine that was leaked and touched off an international furor, U.S. officials said in Washington on Friday.

In the call, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland used an expletive in apparently disparaging the idea of relying on help from the European Union in negotiating a political solution in Ukraine.

The U.S. officials said the conversation between Nuland and ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt was likely intercepted at the Ukraine end and that they believe both Ambassador Pyatt and Nuland were speaking on cellphones.

An official familiar with the matter said State Department employees, including officials at a senior level, are not issued cellphones that use encryption.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/07/ukraine-phonecall-idUSL2N0LC1E120140207

---

[Demenace]

1. Ding dong on those who started blaming the NSA for not doing their job...

...of securing DOS communications. This going to the heart of my view of comments on this site, some posters come around here positioning themselves as 'subject matter experts' while in reality they have no idea what is it, they are talking about. I can mention names but that will be a waste of time.

The larger point is, when the NSA does its job, we say, we do not like it but when something goes wrong, we are first in line to demand why the NSA did not do its job!

[Jesus Malverde]

2. Hey now I resemble that ding dong...

[Demenace]

6. I respect those who step to admit they could have been wrong...

You have my respect, sir!

[JoeyT]

10. Securing lines isn't really the NSA's job.

The NSA's job is to gather as much data as possible on as many people as possible without regard to the constitution or fiscal restraint. They're doing their job just fine, which is exactly what I object to.

The NSA had nothing to do with this fiasco, which was just a regular old diplomatic fuckup.

[Demenace]

11. Joey T, did you bother to follow my original comment?

... in case you missed where I was coming from, I stated before this became known that these folks were on an unsecured line, some posters here had decided it was the fault of the NSA as according to them it was the job of the NSA to secure DOS (Department of State) communications. I pointed out back then to those folks that this was not the job of the NSA and today we have the details on the unsecured nature of the line these officials were on.

If you bothered to read comments of the poster who responded to my post, you may have gotten a clue as to the folks, my comment was aimed at!

Sometimes, people type the words without understanding what it is they are responding to, how the heck then would you contribute meaningfully to the discussion.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Wow...I've tried to get hired into the State Department a couple of times

I remember thinking "Anyone who could pass that exam and get hired has to be in that upper echelon of brains..."

I had such a latent respect and admiration for anyone working at State, since the demands and requirements are so high, and they have such an immense applicant pool of elites to select from...

And now Mrs. Nuland comes along and shatters that myth forever....

[Jesus Malverde]

4. It's neat to hear how they make the diplomatic sausage...nt

[jakeXT]

7. She lived on a Russian boat.....

“You all know Toria pretty well. You may know the story of how she lived on a Russian boat for about eight months when she was 23,
and she learned how to perfect perhaps certain words … Russian curse words and curse words on the fishing boat,” Psaki said.

http://euobserver.com/foreign/123044

[Fumesucker]

5. I think the expression is fornicating cognitively challenged or words to that effect

I wonder what sort of promotion Ms Nuland can expect now that she has been intimately involved in an international incident.

[hedgehog]

8. What if she knew the Russians were listening, and used that to

send an "unofficial" message to our allies that they need to step up their game or Ukraine goes back into the Russian sphere of influence?

[Demenace]

9. Hey, take the blinders off ...

Why is it so hard to admit our side makes mistakes? It seems as if we are always looking for the perfect government officials until we are against everything these same government officials do. This is one case where you should be blaming these government officials for their lack of discretion but no, it must be that this was done on purpose.

[quadrature]

12. some people are naive beyond words..nt