Trump’s supposed misuse of sensitive information
It seems that the Australian media is assuming that American reports of Trump’s supposed misuse of sensitive information applied to nuclear submarines to be supplied under AUKUS.
These are Virginia attack class nuclear submarines that are not supposed to carry nuclear weapons. If they do, that would certainly be a big story. It would be a breach of the Treaty of Rarotonga, which we have signed and covers West Australia and the Fremantle submarine port. If Albanese agreed to let them carry nuclear warheads that would be in contradiction of everything he has said, including what he said at the Labor conference.
None of the information about US ballistic missile carrying submarines is classified, despite the excitement about how Trump told the Australian billionaire, Anthony Pratt, who told others about this supposed information.
Everything about how many of these subs the US has (14) how many missiles each carries, how many warheads, what’s their range and so on has long been in the public domain.
The claim that Trump also said exactly how close these submarines supposedly can get to a Russian submarine without being detected doesn’t make a lot of sense. It varies in accordance with the underwater acoustic conditions at any particular location and depth. There are also other variations.
Why Simon Birmingham said he had to carry these “secrets” with him to the grave is a complete mystery.
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