President Obama will soon be swapping in his clumsy BarackBerry -- a BlackBerry rigged with a separate Sectera Edge security device -- for a new heavily secured BlackBerry 8830.What the president wants, the president gets, and Barack Obama wants
to be the first smartphone-packing president in U.S history. Obama,
who had to give up his beloved BlackBerry after his January
inauguration for security reasons, is about to get a new, secured
BlackBerry.
According to the Washington Times,
Obama will be given a BlackBerry 8830 that has been retooled by the
National Security Agency with heavy duty encryption software developed
by Genesis Key of Washington. The company's Type 1 encryption is touted
for use in clandestine operations, diplomatic and military scenarios.
The
presidential smartphone will be used in and around the White House and
during Obama's official travel. The president will be able to send text
messages, e-mails and make phone calls to others who similarly secured
BlackBerrys. Top aides and Michelle Obama are expected to be issued the
devices, which should be ready for use in several months.
In the
meantime, Obama has not been exactly off the grid. Since inauguration
day, Obama has been using an undisclosed BlackBerry that must be
plugged into another device known as the Sectera Edge, developed by
General Dynamics. The plug-in device was originally developed for the
National Security Agency and comes with Secure Communications
Interoperability Protocol and the High Assurance Internet Protocol
Encryptor Interoperability specification.
Pundits immediately dubbed Obama's device the "BarackBerry."
Even
with the new BlackBerry, Obama's e-mail will be subject to the
Presidential Records Act, which requires the National Archives to
preserve presidential records, although the law allows Obama's
communications be kept from the public during his presidency.