how the recklessness of their bodyguards threatens the safety of Macron, Biden and Putin | EUROtoday
At first look, they appear to be easy vacationers. Arm in arm on the Champs-Elysées, in shorts and caps, they take a photograph of themselves on probably the most stunning avenue on the earth and publish the picture on the Internet.
In actuality, the 4 acolytes are particular brokers of the United States Secret Service (USSS), the American federal company accountable particularly for safeguarding the presidency of the nation. And if they’re in Paris, it’s to safe the journey of the primary girl, Jill Biden, who represents the United States in the course of the extremely anticipated opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Problem: they make far more than simply pictures of vacationers public. And they don’t seem to be the one ones.
Because the French brokers of the safety group of the Presidency of the Republic (GSPR), the Americans of the USSS, in addition to their Russian counterparts within the Federal Protective Service (FSO) share a robust style for the Strava utility, which permits them to file their sporting performances and share them. Using a telephone or a linked watch, they maintain observe of their jogging or biking journeys. This knowledge is then revealed on the platform, which features like a social community.
The drawback: person profiles are public by default. And the overwhelming majority of knowledge is geolocalized. Clearly, the bodyguards of the French, American and Russian presidents talk with out being conscious of their actions on the Internet, together with throughout skilled missions. A safety breach of unprecedented scale which makes it doable to trace them and thus determine prematurely the locations the place the principle heads of state of the planet will keep.
On Tuesday July 11 and Wednesday July 12, 2023, for instance, Emmanuel Macron should go to Vilnius, Lithuania, to attend a NATO summit. Nearly a 12 months and a half after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the member nations of the Atlantic Alliance are discussing reaffirming their help for kyiv. But, from Sunday 9, Paul (first names have been modified), a GSPR agent, was on website. Arriving as a “precursor”, in response to the established time period, his mission was to safe the premises, two days earlier than the president’s arrival in Lithuania. Nothing irregular to date, particularly since this journey is, appropriately, on the Elysée calendar.
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https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2024/10/30/stravaleaks-comment-l-imprudence-de-leurs-gardes-du-corps-menace-la-securite-de-macron-biden-et-poutine_6366922_3210.html