Electrospaces.net: How Obama's BlackBerry got secured

April 20, 2013

How Obama's BlackBerry got secured

(Updated: October 31, 2023)

Around January 20, 2009, when Barack Obama took over the office of president of the United States, there was quite a lot of media attention about the fact that he had to give up his BlackBerry, because it was considered to be a security risk.

This caused almost world wide media attention, but the follow-up was less accurately covered and a number of different stories were told. Here we will show that Obama actually kept his beloved BlackBerry, but only after it had been secured by special encryption software and some additional security measures.

President Obama showing his BlackBerry (photo: Reuters)

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, also used a BlackBerry during the 2000 presidential campaign, but had to give it up, as well as the use of any e-mail software, upon taking office. Three days earlier, he sent out a final e-mail to 42 friends and family members to inform them that he would no longer correspond electronically.

Eight years later, Barack Obama was also forced to give up his BlackBerry, not only because of concerns that its communications and e-mail could be intercepted, but also because of the Presidential Records Act of 1978. This makes all written White House communications public property and subject to examination under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

However, this time Obama definitely wanted keep using this popular business phone to stay in touch with people outside the White House bubble. Therefore, the Secret Service (USSS), the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) went looking for a solution.

Obama using his BlackBerry 8830 during the election campaign in 2008

(Photo: Getty Images)

US President Obama using a silver BlackBerry 8830<br>Nokia E61 or E62, as recognized by someone here

Sectéra Edge

Some media suggested Obama had to change his BlackBerry for the Sectéra Edge, a highly secured PDA, which is produced by General Dynamics for the US military. But the Sectéra Edge is quite big, heavy (340 grams) and bulky and therefore hardly convenient for someone used to a BlackBerry. This solution would also require everyone that Obama would like to communicate with to have the same phone, which is priced between 2650,- and 3350,- USD. Secure communications are only possible if both ends use the same (or compatible) encryption devices.

According to other sources, the Sectéra Edge was only used in addition to Obama's BlackBerry, until a permanent solution was worked out. Reports weren't clear about how exactly these two devices were combined. Probably the Sectéra Edge acted like an encryptor, which was plugged into the BlackBerry, so Obama could keep using this device to make a call or send out an e-mail, which then went through the Sectéra Edge, encrypting it, before going over the telecommunications network.

The Sectéra Edge, manufactured by General Dynamics

Compromise

That latter, temporary solution must have been even more cumbersome, so a compromise was made, in which president Obama could keep using a BlackBerry, but equipped with a software package to encrypt phone calls and text and email messages.

For this purpose, the security agencies choose the SecurVoice application, which was developed by The Genesis Key, in cooperation with engineers from BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM). SecurVoice should not be confused with Secure-Voice.com, nor with SecuVOICE, which is used for securing the smart phone of the German chancellor Merkel.

Update:

Responsible for securing Obama's BlackBerry was Richard "Dickie" George, who served as technical director of the NSA's Information Assurance Directorate (IAD) from 2003 until his retirement in 2011. In 2014 he told CNN that the NSA set up a lab where dozens of experts performed surgery on the president's future BlackBerry for several months. The device was manipulated to weed out potential threats to secure communication and BlackBerry's algorithms were also reviewed. The choice of the smartphone model was eventually the NSA's, not Obama's, George explained.

After the NSA did all the necessary tests and checking to make sure the software met federal standards like FIPS 140-2, the highly secured BlackBerry was delivered to the president somewhere in May or June 2009. He also gave up his old e-mail address and switched to a new one, which is kept secret.

Maybe we can see the new, secured BlackBerry in this picture below, where there are two BlackBerrys lying in front of Obama. The silver one seems to be the BlackBerry 8830, which he already used during the election campaign. The black one, probably a BlackBerry 8900, could then be the new secure one, as we can see the president using this one in later pictures:

President Barack Obama works with Jon Favreau, director of speechwriting, on the Normandy speech

aboard Air Force One enroute to...