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(Updated: March 27, 2013) Earlier this month, pope Benedict XVI announced his historical decision to step down from his office on February 28, 2013. This makes him the first pope to resign since 1415! Therefore, a good moment to take a look at the telephone equipment, which is used by this leader of almost 1.2 billion catholics. Pope Benedict XVI, assisted by his private secretary, signs a papal bull . In this picture we see pope Benedict XVI at work in his private study in the papal apartment of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. At the far right we can see two white telephones sitting on a side table: an older one with a rotary dial and a newer one with a keypad. The same combination of a somewhat older rotary dial phone and a newer keypad telephone can be seen at the table of the guard, next to the main entrance door of the papal apartment: Swiss Guard soldier garding the door to the papal apartment, ca. 1989 Three rotary dial phones in different colors on a side table nex

Here we see a great and very rare, maybe even unique picture of former US president Ronald Reagan using a STU-II secure telephone: President Reagan making an early morning telephone call regarding the invasion of Grenada (Photo: Reagan Library , October 22, 1983) In this picture we see president Reagan making a phone call to his staff regarding the invasion of Grenada . Because he was staying at the Eisenhower cabin on the Augusta National Golf course in Georgia, it was necessary to create a secure telephone line with the White House. This was done by installing a STU-II , which was the second generation Secure Telephone Unit (STU). This system was introduced by the NSA in the early 1980s, and replaced older systems, like the extremely bulky KY-3, and was the successor to the STU-I. In the picture we see the STU-II telephone, with handset, a normal keypad, some indicator LEDs and three extra buttons at the bottom, for selecting secure or nonsecure mode. This phone only acted as termi

(Updated: March 7, 2017) On February 1st, senator John Kerry became the new US Secretary of State, succeeding Hillary Clinton, who held this office since January 2009. John Kerry is just two weeks in office, but we already have a nice picture of him in his new office: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks by telephone with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon from his Inner Office at the Department of State, February 5, 2013. ( State Department photo ) This picture is taken in the so called inner or private office, which is next to the bigger ceremonial office , where the secretary of state is most often seen, receiving and talking to his guests. The smaller private office is used for the actual work, and therefore that's also where the phones are (the US president also has a rarely seen private office, next to the ceremonial Oval Office). On the desk we see a Cisco 7975 unified IP phone with a 7916 expansion module. With a close look we can see that the phone has a yellow facep