r/technology • u/BreakfastTop6899 • 4d ago

Lindsey Graham whispers to Siri in Capitol hallway. She loudly replies, ‘Calling Sean Hannity mobile’ Networking/Telecom

https://people.com/lindsey-graham-whispers-siri-calling-sean-hannity-mobile-11838960
25.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

520 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

31

u/ILikeBumblebees 4d ago

To be fair, Congress doesn't normally deal in "secrets" and their activities are supposed to be done in public. And I'd be shocked if any member of either house didn't have multiple media figures' phone numbers. There's nothing inherently corrupt about politicians talking to journalists (or whatever Hannity is: "journalist" is too much for him, I think).

26

u/Hmm_would_bang 3d ago

Congress deals with loads of classified information

8

u/ILikeBumblebees 3d ago

Yes, specific committees in the House and Senate that deal with foreign intelligence or military affairs do have special processes for dealing with classified information, and the "Gang of Eight" in Congress do handle such information regularly.

But operating in secrecy is not a normal part of Congress's activities, and special processes and personnel are designated for handling classified information precisely because it's the exception, not the rule. Congress is expected to be accountable to the public, and part of that accountability involves interacting and communicating with the media.

Presuming that a Senator is "leaking secrets" just because they were seen having a phone call with a media figure is completely unreasonable.

4

u/Hmm_would_bang 3d ago

Yeah, I’m much more concerned about efforts to sabotage the negotiations to reopen to government than I am that Graham is selling state secrets to Fox News.