Obama won't abandon BlackBerry

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 19 Jan 2009 at 10:32

Barack Obama is set to defy the Secret Service and keep hold of his BlackBerry when he takes office.

Obama has admitted to being fiercely attached to his BlackBerry, but under the Presidential Records Act of 1978 he must keep a record of every White House Communication using specially approved devices.

The Secret Service has also expressed concerns about the device being hacked wirelessly without the additional security features of those devices on the approved list.

However, Obama seems to overcome these hurdles and in an interview with CNN claimed his BlackBerry would be joining him in the Oval Office.

"I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an email could end up being on CNN," he said. "So I make sure to think before I press send."

Obama also claimed that keeping hold of his BlackBerry would help keep him grounded as he assumes one of the most powerful offices in the world.

"It's just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble, to make sure that people can still reach me," he said.

"If I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an email and say, 'What are you doing?'"

Obama will be inaugurated on 20 January.