The White House is working to quickly upgrade the Qatari-donated jet that has newly started serving as Air Force One, a development that comes after administration officials internally discussed the need for President Donald Trump to avoid flying it in high-threat areas, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The extent of the required upgrades, which will be made later this fall, remains unclear. But the two sources said that before Trump traveled on the jet to Turkey earlier this month, officials had discussed the president not traveling on the newly refurbished jet to areas that could pose a higher risk to him, specifically Israel, amid the monthslong war with Iran.
Trump, who has lavished praise on the retrofitted plane, nevertheless flew it to Turkey earlier this month after an initial assessment by top officials deemed it safe, the sources said.
Officials later realized that clearing it for use on that trip was a mistake, one of the sources said. The other source noted that security assessments frequently change.
Trump has appeared to publicly acknowledge that the plane needs additional security enhancements, telling reporters Sunday that it would soon be “maxed out.” He added that it would “take about a month” to make the planned changes — a timeline experts say isn’t enough to make significant improvements.
