Travelers on Air Force One ordered to throw away gifts, phones after China trip

https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/15/us-orders-travelers-on-air-force-one-to-throw-away-gifts-pins-and-burner-phones-after-china-trip/

20•leopoldj•1h ago

Comments

rationalist•58m ago

Aren't there companies that issue burner phones and burner laptops for the same reason?

866-RON-0-FEZ•48m ago

It's standard practice in the industry — if your company has a competent IT department — to mandate burner laptops and devices in China.

blipvert•46m ago

And now for EU visitors to the US.

retired•46m ago

Ten years ago, a Dutch company I worked for had a standard protocol after government delegation trips to China: every phone and laptop used on the visit was fed straight into an industrial shredder.

jmclnx•53m ago

If I am not mistaken, isn't doing this an insult to China ?

Do me they could have put the items in a sealed maybe 'lead' box and examine them later.

boothby•34m ago

The Chinese government would be stupid to not do the exact same thing when departing the US. They aren't stupid, and they aren't going to wage war on the basis of some discarded lapel pins.

stronglikedan•52m ago

Standard Practice? Yes. News? No. Hacker News? Hell no!

NooneAtAll3•49m ago

it's literally the most important plane of US government

secrecy concerns about happenings on board are obvious and are just basic security procedure

---

the only question is whether there was an alternative way (on support transports) to keep anything to regift or smth

NooneAtAll3•51m ago

shouldn't they have been warned before even flying there?

browningstreet•40m ago

Jensen didn’t even know he was going on the trip… not a lot of forethought or process involved.

arbirk•48m ago

EU officials have to do the same when leaving the US

gpt5•46m ago

Source? I didn’t know EU officials are required to use burner phones in the US

ano-ther•39m ago

https://www.theregister.com/security/2025/04/15/report-ec-is...

retired•35m ago

If you click through to the FT article you would see that the source is: trust me bro.

866-RON-0-FEZ•33m ago

Anonymous sources, the EC didn't confirm anything, and the "proof" is well they didn't deny it either.

Quality reporting as usual from El Reg.

arbirk•35m ago

https://www.computerworld.dk/art/291220/frygter-spionage-eu-...

surgical_fire•8m ago

They definitely should. The US is a profoundly untrustworthy country.

z2•48m ago

Actually throw away as in discard and leave behind in China? I thought the logical thing to do would be to put them into a faraday cage and inspect them later in a lab.

benbojangles•37m ago

Didn't China steal the F-22/F35/B2/C17 blueprints, and also stole COVID?

Simulacra•30m ago

I mean, the Chinese are probably ordered to do the same thing after a state visit to America

tibbydudeza•18m ago

Soviet children gave the US ambassador a plaque of peace -hidden inside was a recording device that drew no power and gave off no emissions - it was activated when the KGB beamed a specific frequency to it and the feedback from it using fancy maths could give a realtime recording.

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