'Scares the hell out of me': Clinton nuclear football aide warns over Trump’s Air Force One swap

WASHINGTON, DC: A retired Air Force officer who once carried the nuclear "football" for former President Bill Clinton is sounding the alarm over details emerging from President Donald Trump’s secret Air Force One swap.

Retired Lt Col Robert "Buzz" Patterson said the operation itself was smart and familiar, but what "scares the hell out of me" is how details of the presidential security maneuver became public. Patterson, who served as Clinton’s senior military aide for two years, said the use of decoy aircraft and other forms of presidential deception is nothing new. His concern is that revealing how such operations work could create a security risk for Trump and future presidents.

Robert Patterson says the Air Force One leak is the real concern

Trump's July 8 departure from Ankara, Turkey, involved a carefully planned deception.

Trump initially boarded the familiar blue-and-white presidential 747 before being moved out of sight in an airport catering vehicle and transferred to a smaller Air Force C-32A.

The legacy 747 then flew to Britain as a decoy while Trump traveled separately. He later reunited with the presidential aircraft in the United Kingdom.

Patterson praised the maneuver, calling it "brilliant" and saying, "I wish I had been a part of it. That's how well done it was."

But he said the public disclosure of the operation was a very different matter.

"I hope that they prosecute this to the fullest," Patterson said. "Whoever leaked that, in my opinion, and having been involved in this, was highly placed in that process."

"There's only a few people who actually know exactly what's going down, and that's by design," he added. "So if somebody leaked it, it was somebody involved in the process, and that scares the hell out of me.”

Robert Patterson says presidential decoys are nothing new

Patterson said presidential security teams have long used deception to confuse anyone trying to track a president's movements.

"We use decoys all the time," he said, explaining that similar tactics can be used with presidential motorcades and aircraft.

He also pointed to his own experience with Clinton. Patterson revealed that Clinton had previously been moved discreetly using an airport catering vehicle.

"I won't go into a lot of detail," Patterson said, recalling how the vehicle was used to get Clinton onto the back of an aircraft without drawing attention.

He also recalled Clinton's surprise 1997 visit to Bosnia on Christmas Eve, saying the trip was kept secret because the president was entering a war zone.

"As far as I know, President Clinton was the first one to do it," Patterson said of using a catering vehicle in such a way.

Marco Rubio and reporters were aboard the decoy aircraft

The latest operation also involved people who remained aboard the legacy presidential 747.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and members of the traveling press corps were aboard, according to a senior Trump administration official.

The aircraft was protected by US fighter jets during its flight to the United Kingdom, and reporters had been instructed to keep their window shades closed.

Patterson said that protection was exactly what he would expect during travel through a high-threat environment.

"Yes, especially into war zones," he said when asked whether presidential aircraft are normally escorted by fighter jets.

"We damn sure always do when we're going to a theater of high threat," Patterson said.

He also rejected the idea that the security operation was simply about protecting Trump.

"President Trump's only got two more years," Patterson said. "These programs are going to be in place for the foreseeable future."

Robert Patterson warns the impact could go beyond Donald Trump

Patterson's biggest concern is that continued exposure of presidential security tactics could eventually make them predictable.

"If we were to expose everything, we would have to overhaul the entire security apparatus of the United States of America," he said, warning that this could put "the presidency and the Cabinet members in incredible danger."

He said the risks could also extend to Secret Service personnel, military members, Air Force crews and future presidents who may need to travel secretly into dangerous areas.

"It endangers everybody in the process," Patterson said.