When it came to security measures for US President Donald Trump's , everything was carefully considered - except planners didn't account for a plane enthusiast armed with a camera.
Hours before the White House officially announced the president's visit to the Al-Asad Air Base, social media users were already tracking the Air Force One's movements and speculating on its destination.
It all started on Boxing Day, when Alan Meloy, standing on the front step of his Sheffield home, spotted a distinctive plane in the sky above his house and quickly snapped a photo.
The photo Alan Meloy took of Air Force One above Yorkshire. Source: Alan Meloy
Once it was public, other internet sleuths combed through publicly available airplane data and determined that the plane was Air Force One and Mr Trump was on his way to the Middle East, leaving the White House to announce the trip earlier than planned.
Wikileaks, founded by Australian Julian Assange, also jumped on the plane's trail, tweeting at 7.55am that "the Boeing 747 usually used by Trump for Air Force One is currently moving towards Turkey".
An hour later they tweeted again, pondering whether the US President was on his way to Afghanistan.
After arriving in Iraq, his first visit of deployed US troops, Mr Trump told reporters the flight "was an interesting trip".
"I know there was a lot of security up there, in the skies," he said.
"If you had seen what we had to go through with the darkened plane, with all windows closed, with no lights on whatsoever anywhere. Pitch black. I have never seen anything like it."
But the early sighting of Air Force One isn't the only security breach the White House will have to contend with.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet US troops at an air base in Iraq. Source: AAP
According to the pool report from his visit to the US troops, a Navy officer called Kyu Lee told the President during his visit that he was the chaplain for SEAL Team Five, to which Mr Trump responded: "in that case, let's take a picture".
Crucially, the interaction seems to reveal the presence of the special ops team at the base.
Shortly after leaving, Mr Trump then posted a video to Twitter of himself and Melania alongside service members who appear to be from SEAL Team Five - without covering their faces.
SEAL Team Five are part of US special forces, whose operations and identities are usually kept secret. In the photo, the service members are decked out in full battle gear and night-vision goggles.
Twitter users were quick to respond to the President's Tweet accusing him of breaching protocol.
"Most presidents put forces in harm's way by sending them into military action. You did it by revealing their identities and locations on social media," wrote one user.
As the US President, Mr Trump has the ability to declassify information.
