Smart Traveler Thune Leaves Smartphone at Home on Russia Trip

I’ve expressed surprise that Senator John Thune didn’t live-Tweet his Russia trip last week. But as Russian state television anchorman Sergei Brilev (pronounced /bril-YOV/) explains, I should not be surprised. Senator Thune, whom Brilev describes in his Saturday, July 7, broadcast as the senator in charge of Internet and cybersecurity issues, didn’t risk bringing his smartphone to Russia:

Брилёв: Господин сенатор, у меня в кармане смартфон, который, конечно же, выключен, как того требуют правила записи интервью. А вы свой мобильный телефон взяли с собой в Россию или приехали с одноразовым, который потом самоуничтожится?

И ведь, судя по всему, приехал без мобильного.

Brilev: Mr. Senator, I have in my pocket a smartphone, which, of course, is shut off, as the rules for recoding an interview require. Did you bring your mobile phone to Russia, or did you come with a burner (“one-time”) phone which later self-destructs?

It sure seems, from all appearances, that Thune came without a mobile phone [English translation mine; Sergei Brilev, “American Congressmen in Moscow: Burner Phones and Serious Faces,” News on Saturday, 2018.07.07 (“Американские конгрессмены в Москве: одноразовые смартфоны и сосредоточенные лица,” Вести в субботу 2018.07.07].

Brilev was really asking about trust, not tech:

Брилёв: Я спрашиваю, потому что лично слышал от самих американцев (европейцы-то сюда со своими мобильными приезжают) просто параноидальные утверждения о том, что их в России непременно будут прослушивать. Вы возглавляете комитет по кибербезопасности и лучше меня понимаете, что взломать можно любой телефон, находясь в любой точке мира. А вы приехали сюда с одноразовым мобильником, что говорит об уровне отношений и доверия. Существуют ли еще совершенно неразрешимые противоречия между нашими странами?

Тьюн: Как это описывает сенатор Шелби, с которым вы уже общались, мы — конкуренты, это очевидно. Нам нужна здоровая конкуренция….

Брилёв: Вы репетировали что ли? Слово в слово повторяете его.

Тьюн: Неужели он тоже это говорил?

Brilev: I ask, because I have personally heard from Americans (not Europeans, who come here with their phones) simply paranoid assertions about how someone’s going to bug their phone in Russia. You chair the committee on cybersecurity and understand better than I that any phone can be hacked from anywhere in the world. But you have come here with a burner phone, which speaks of the level of relations and trust. Do there still exist some completely insoluble conflicts between our countries?

Thune: As Senator Shelby describes it—and you’ve already spoken with him—we are competitors. That’s obvious. We need healthy competition.

Brilev: Did you rehearse that line? Word for word you repeat him.

Thune: Really? He also said that? [Brilev, 2018.07.07]

No, Senator Thune did not repeat Senator Shelby word for word, not in Brilev’s interview, at least. Senator Shelby did make a similar statement about seeking a “competitive” relationship instead of a “hostile condition.”

And no, one need not be paranoid about Putin’s FSB to leave one’s phone at home before traveling overseas. Maybe Thune left his phone at home because he was worried about Trump’s goons seizing his phone when he came back.

Now imagine if we could get Trump to follow the same smart practice—if he left his phone back at the White House and had no chance to Tweet on the road, maybe Trump could actually be lured into paying attention to the briefing documents for his summit with Putin next Monday and all the preceding excitement during his jaunt around Europe.