Political Hotsheet
By

Declan McCullagh /

CBS News/ January 22, 2009, 11:19 AM

Obama May Be Able To Keep His BlackBerry After All

This is written by Declan McCullagh, CNET News' chief political correspondent

(AP Photo)
Forget the important task of opening up government. Never mind a recession that seems to be trying hard to be promoted to a full-scale depression. In geekish circles, the question of the week has been: Will President Obama manage to hang on to his BlackBerry?

Obama told us more than a year ago that it was his favorite gadget, and he was rarely without it during the 2008 campaign. In 2001, George Bush famously gave up e-mail, and there was plenty of speculation that Obama would too, either for privacy or open-government reasons. Last week, we suggested the Sectera Edge as a secure PDA-phone--it's rated for SECRET data and TOP SECRET voice--that might do the trick.

Now we're hearing from a report by CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder on The Atlantic's Web site that Obama will be able to keep his BlackBerry after all. Apparently it's been outfitted with encrypted software secure enough for routine personal messages--meaning, if this report is true, there will be no Microsoft Windows Mobile in the president's immediate future.

We're still waiting, by the way, to hear back from the National Security Agency. They said they'd be happy to entertain questions from us, and it's been over a week. We're not holding our breath.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
4 Comments Add a Comment
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docpeter1953 says:
All I want to know is?
Which BlackBerry is it ?
A Curve ?

Posted by Terrorislame at 12:45 PM : Jan 22, 2009

_________________

It''s a brand new model called ''The Presidential''
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terrorislame says:
All I want to know is?
Which BlackBerry is it ?
A Curve ?
I can see it`s not a Bold like mine,....I don`t blame him,...I keep mine with me too,..
Even if we both work for the gov`t.....I think his security is a little tighter than mine :)
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notmudrose1 says:
The report is true.
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bobnjersey says:
[We''re still waiting, by the way, to hear back from the National Security Agency. They said they''d be happy to entertain questions from us, and it''s been over a week. We''re not holding our breath.]

they already know the questions you were going to ask ... and didn''t like them. this is why they''re not contacting you.
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