The Defense Department, on behalf of the Trump administration, has begun the process of leasing one of the multi-million dollar condominiums within the 68 story Trump Tower to house the nuclear football and the military official assigned to carry it, according to Reuters. Trump Tower is one of many skyscraper residences in New York. At Trump’s luxury building, offices and shops comprise the first 29 floors, and floors 30 through 68 are expensive condos. Trump Tower is located between East 56th and East 57th Streets in mid-town Manhattan, New York City.
What is fairly mind-boggling is that the satchel or “black bag” that contains the codes any American president would use to launch a nuclear attack will be sitting in a residential building in the high-density city of New York.
That’s only one inconceivable aspect; the other is the condominium is privately-owned. Defense Department official James MacStravic said, in a letter to a Democrat on the Armed Services committee, the condominium is “privately owned …and lease negotiations have been with the owner’s representative only.”
Ongoing security concerns in Trump White House
As the American public and the world know, President Trump’s administration has been besieged by security issues. First there was the Michael Flynn debachle.
Then there was the crack-up with the Mar-A-Lago meeting between President Trump and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, where Trump’s team had had high-level security conversations. President Trump’s new national security advisor is Lieutenant General Henry McMaster, widely respected as a grounded, level-headed military strategist and leader.
Even Senator John McCain, who seems to always be on the morning and Sunday news shows, approved of the choice.
Ongoing security concerns continue to pester the Trump administration. Many are questioning the Commander-in-Chief’s frequent visits to the “Winter White House,” which, by some estimates could cost the American taxpayer hundreds of millions by the end of the Donald’s term in office.
There are also reports that the national security agencies of the U.S. are currently withholding the most top secret information from the president, fearing that the administration has already been infiltrated and compromised by the Russians.
High-rent digs for nuclear satchel
Apparently, the military aide who guards the nuclear “black bag” has to have a place to sleep near the President. But does it have to be a $1.5 million condo on Fifth Avenue? And since Trump goes to Mar-A-Lago regularly and now his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, will the football have to have a place there, too? The Defense Department had no comment. Lieutenant Colonel J.B. Brindle said, according to the Seattle Times, “The space is necessary for the personnel and equipment who support the POTUS at his residence in the building.”
