Trump tweets video revealing covert Navy Seal deployment during Iraq visit

President has the power to declassify previously classified material information

President Donald Trump tweeted a video that appears to have inadvertently revealed a US Navy Seal team was deployed in Iraq.

The president’s tweet featured Mr Trump and first lady Melania Trump posing with members of apparently from Navy Seal Team Five, Newsweek reported. According to media pool reports, Mr Trump requested taking photos with someone who said they was the chaplin for the special operations forces unit.

The video in question shows highlights of Mr Trump’s visit with the Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” playing in the background.

“.@FLOTUS Melania and I were honoured to visit our incredible troops at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq,” Mr Trump tweeted. “GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!”

US officials told Newsweek that information about units deployed abroad are typically classified. Mr Trump and the first lady reportedly visited about 100 special operations troops at Al Asad Air Base who are serving in Iraq and Syria.

“Operational security is the most important aspect of personnel deployments. The real names, faces, and identities, of personnel involved in special operations or activities, are usually a closely held secret in a combat zone,” former US Navy intelligence specialist Malcolm Nance told Newsweek.

“Revealing them casually, through an unusual media exposure even if it’s the commander in chief, would prove a propaganda boom if any of this personnel are detained by a hostile government or captured by a terrorist group. There would be no denying who you are and what you do.”

The president has the power to declassify previously classified information.