The insistence of US President Barack Obama to still carry a mobile phone prevailed over security concerns and he is the first United States president to ever carry one while in the oval office.
Apparently, that means he has to use a secure unit specially made for the NSA — the Sectera Edge {via}. It’s a Blackberry-like device that allows for secure and non-secure communication for making calls, SMS and emails.
There’s no way of knowing what’s inside this celly except for the price tag of $3,500. If you want one, just ring up General Dynamics (the contractor that developed the phone) and ask permission for the National Security Agency to get one.
Note the “CAC (Common Access Card) Reader” and the “SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility)-Friendly Key”. These are what make this a secure phone. The CAC uses AES encryption to secure unclassified phone calls when needed. The SCIF Key uses NSA Type-I encryption for classified communications. A CAC and a key are both things you insert into the Sectera Edge phone (not both at the same time) and leaves the phone unclassified when removed. When inserted, the phone can only communicate to others who have the same kind of encryption/decryption on their phones/devices. The price for one device $3500 makes it pretty expensive and keeping track of the encryption keys/cards is a hassle. The classified keys themselves must be secured (i.e. put into safes capable of storing classified material) when not in use or being personally carried/secured.