Trump just wants one thing from the Executive Branch career employees, play pretend with him, don't make him feel stupid and don't tell him that the world is not like he wants. Simple. Listen to Grenell, he's going to tell the people in the intelligence agencies what Trump wants to hear. Tell Grenell what Trump wants to hear, and they will have no problems. Trump does not want to run the government, anyway. For him, that is boring because he cannot understand it. So deal with reality with sincerity and don't bring up things like the Russians are interfering with our elections in any manner which may get back to Trump.
8
The only thing that we can be certain of is that should something catastrophic befall our country as the result of Trump's paranoid vendetta, he will find someone else to blame for it. And fire them.
8
Let's call this what it is -- a purge of the top levels of America's government by a paranoid, proto-authoritarian leader in thrall to Vladimir Putin. Putting unqualified toadies in leadership positions is a great way to get the qualified to leave, either by resignation or termination. If there is one thing Trump has learned from his multiple bankruptcies and business failures over the years, it is much easier to destroy than to build and maintain.
17
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that gutting our intelligence abilities is Trump's goal.
7
We're quickly becoming a fascist mob state. The real truth, uncovered by our diligent intelligence professionals, can now be discarded, dismissed and neutered by the toadies the fraud "president" appoints, all to avoid having his bizarre, unfounded beliefs, confronted with facts.
"Ignorance is Strength". Orwell.
11
If loyalty to Trump and not an extensive resume for the job is all you need, then those Republicans who lost in the midterms should be sending their names and "resumes" to the White House. I understand there are quite a few openings.
5
Every president gets to choose who works for him. The Deep State has shown itself to be anti-Trump, so of course President Trump can exercise his constitutional ability to re-order the people running the show at the various agencies which, of course, all serve at the pleasure of the president.
Trump has shown himself to be very patient, waiting years before taking action to rid himself of liars and leakers.
Go President Trump!
9
@Lane Ginsberg And FAR!!
20
@Lane Ginsberg
You discredit your argument by using fantasy terms like "Deep State" (and the capitalization!), but more to the point: it's not about Trump* exercising his prerogative to select cabinet-level officials. It's about *who* he has selected for this important role.
Grenell has next to *no* intelligence experience, in a role that will demand it. It also demands a willingness to support fact-based analysis rather than the whims of his boss's day-to-day paranoias. Trump* has again placed his own ego above national security and the good of the public.
But hey--really sticks it to the libs, and that's what matter most, hmm?
101
@Lane Ginsberg
Trump has sided with the enemy above our own intelligence agencies and fired anyone who dares tell the truth about foreign interference in our elections. He has also gone out of his way to hire climate-change deniers and lobbyists for fossil fuel companies to run the EPA. He is a disgrace to national security and the environment. To paraphrase Jumblegym, 'Please go trump..... far away!'
77
What makes Ms Harman think it's about to be destroyed and ruined. How much worse could our intelligence community be than what we got with Clapper, Brennan and Comey? I guess basically you have to say Obama.
We have absolutely no confidence in what they said and did. They were political to the greatest extent possible. Comey was a joke, to both sides of the aisle, and had way to an inflated view of himself, thinking he could do whatever he chose, such as arranging a leak with Columbia buddy.
It's obvious to all that there were massive failures over the last years of Obama, the democrats just won't admit cause they want to use it as a cugel against their current bogey man.
7
@alan
What, again was President Obama's shortcoming, Administrating While Black?
47
@Jumblegym that's a good one!
I brought up Clapper, Comey and Brennan as the problem.
But they also happened to be in the Obama Admin.
Why would you say what you said? Surprised the NYT posted your comment.
2
@alan Why is it that every defense of Trump begins and ends with attacking someone else? Does screaming, "Yeah, but what about those guys" even count as a defense? It sure didn't in kindergarten.
50
If Jane Harmans "intelligence" creation actually believes that Russia wants president Trump to be re-elected then it's way past time it was destroyed. If she had posited just one reason any objective observer would believe such an absurd conclusion she might have some credibility. She didn't because she can't. Nor can she present an argument defending the intelligence community after their miserable performance in quantifying Russian interference in 2016 or their supposed strategy for 2020.
The simple truth is that our intelligence community has been politicized. Harman was perfectly happy to ignore that as long as their assessments aligned with Democrats in their quest to smear Trump and his associates but now that their complicity is being exposed she wants to circle the wagons. Either she and her "creation" are incurably delusional, thereby placing them atop Putin's best assets in sowing discord among our electorate or they have become so arrogant that they feel they are immune to criticism and much needed reform. Either way president Trump will expose them.
7
@tim k
The people doing the disinformation and agitation are working for the Russian government. End of story.
27
This is disheartening, frightening beyond measure, and leaves me wondering when we Americans will take to the streets.....what is it going to take?
3
I couldn't agree with Ms. Harman more. What this WH is doing is blinding our country in order to promote the Joker's lunatic agenda and his fixation on the the denial that russia helped him win the 2016 election. The Congress as well as every one of our myriad intelligence agencies are all in agreement that russia did indeed help elect him to the presidency. This has been, and continues to be a source of intense anger on his part, not that russia did it, but that his victory was aided, and that everyone knows it. It drives him to distraction, and god knows that he has pressious litle ability to focus intently on any issue that doesn't concern his inflated ego. The fact that he picked Grenell, a man that could not be more unsuited to a ballanced performance of the demands of the job, tells us and the world, both friends and enemies, that the WH has no interest in hearing the truth but only their fantasy version of it. The danger that this development represents could not be more dire for our country, as I stated in the beginning we are being blinded at a time when we need very accute vision. No sane person would choose to do this, which goes to the crux of our problem, it's not that we have a leadership vacuum, it's that the leadership that we do have is working to undermine our nation at every opportunity. If you think today was bad just wait until tomorrow; it's been that way every day since the Senate voted to turn a blind eye to all of his malevolent behavior, they own it!
7
This man only knows what Trump tells him, which is pretty scary. He has no intelligence experience. It' terrifying to see what is going on here. I have no trust in the vote I will cast in 2020. Where is everyone???
4
Wouldn't this article be more effective if you published this on WSJ as oppose to NYTimes? Readers of NYTimes already agree with you. If you can convince WSJ readers that what Trump is doing is outrageous, wouldn't that be more effective?
8
Donald Trump and the GOP are relying more and more on the security expertises of the GRU, so Jane Harman's concerns may be unfounded...Unless of course you are concerned about America's national security.
3
Putting aside all the bizarre theorizing about what Trump is going to do with our foreign policy one of the reasons he won was he wanted to end the the endless war. To clarify, those deplorables in fly over country voted to end the war. Don't they deserve a little respect.
What would have HRC's foreign policy been with experts like Morell and Taylor advising her? Would Ukraine be a battle ground? Would we already have attacked Iran?
Whats worse Trump or War?
1
For those that may not have understood, when we have said that Trump is a tyrant and a criminal, we were not being hyperbolic.
The question now is "what do we do about it?"
Vote, certainly. Organize. Make sure that those Senators and Congresspersons that lacked either the courage or patriotism to stop Trump are removed from any position of authority and reduced to the public shaming they richly deserve. Research--find their weak points. Talk to friends and neighbors. Make sure that everyone knows the clear and present danger our nation faces.
The lives of your children hang in the balance.
7
It is incomprehensible that Republican lawmakers go along with everything King Donald says and does.
6
Did this top spy job also have a role to play in extracting information from people we held at black sites and using "advanced interrogation techniques" (aka torture)? why should we listen to you? there is so much evil with this standing army we have been funding for decades now.
Trump appointed a sycophant because sycophants are all he can tolerate. Grenell will skew intelligence to suit Trump‘s political narrative. Cue Robert O’Brien who said he seen no intelligence that the Russians are trying to help Trump, only Sanders. It’s the reality show narrative.
4
Please tell your story to Fox News and Breitbart. Those of us reading the NYT already see the signs and fear the outcomes. It's the Trump supporters who need to be convinced otherwise.
4
We have seen what the 'seat of the pants' decision making by the orange clown king in his private life brought: four bankruptcies and thousands of law suits, closure of 'not-for-profit' trump entities with fines because of criminality.
We have also seen what the same decision making during an illegitimate presidency has wrought with full backing and support of the republican cult royal court in the senate: laughing stock at international meetings, betrayal of Kurdish allies on the battle field, love affair with Kim Jong-un, strong belief in the honesty of putin, unwillingness to ensure the integrity of our election process, poor relations with allies, honoring of dictators around the world, US caging of immigrants and separation of families ...
What part of authoritarian transformation don't we understand?
Next step: nuclear war when Modi is given the OK to bomb Pakistan. After all, trump needs to fill those empty properties in India or collect insurance.
4
The Department of ‘Just Us’ is due for a reckoning...here it comes.
1
What are we anymore? Trump's golden throne.
2
Hello America, here is one more voice of someone with experience warning us. Who cares who Putin wants to be president? The issue is who cares that Russia is more than meddling to influence our elections The president needs to man up ,show gratitude for the intelligence agencies, and hit little Putin where it hurts. Instead Trump cowers in denial like the coward and bully he is.
1
Just what our nation needs. Know-nothing Grenell joins other inmates, like Pompeo, Mulvaney, Ross, DeVoss and the passengers in the Trump family clown car, to help run the White House asylum. Charming.
3
If Trump, with the help of William Barr and Mr. Grennel were to help Trump establish the equivalent of the Gestapo, where would they begin?
The answer is clear: They would fire the present leadership of the FBI, and install right wing activists who love guns, and who espouse neo-Nazi ideas. Alarmingly, there is no shortage of those types these days.
And though this sounds like a grim joke, it is not that far from the realm of the possible, because it did happen in Germany as well as Russia (under the KGB).
3
"It’s impossible to know how many clues we will miss if our intelligence community is isolated from the world and the president’s daily brief only reinforces what the administration wants to hear."
This is an interesting observation on several levels. One that many here may fond of interest: there was once a publication -- the "Secretary's Morning Summary" (SMS) -- that was produced seven days a week by the State Department's Bureau Of Intelligence and Research (read about INR on Wikipedia for more information).
The SMS -- which was more highly regarded than the CIA's PDB because of its depth and the level of experience (30 plus years generally) of the analysts who wrote for it -- was summarily killed for reasons we still are unsure of by then-INR Assistant Secretary Carl Ford in 2002 or thereabouts.
Former President Bill Clinton spoke highly of the publication -- which was generally more well-received than the PDB -- in comments to the 9/11 Commission (see ink below).
https://books.google.com/books?id=D3KIwYA_QyAC&pg=PA114&lpg=PA114&dq=inr+%22secretary%27s+morning+summary%22&source=bl&ots=PxvrDlS0lA&sig=ACfU3U0MfyLc6phQALA0xM-WmZaGxt9omQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGguu28-rnAhXxhXIEHZFCDFAQ6AEwBHoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=inr%20%22secretary's%20morning%20summary%22&f=false
Will the SMS ever be revived? Its a question that has been asked repeatedly at State for the last 18 years.
2
Grennell is uniquely Trumpian. Grennell's arrogant lectures while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Germany channeled his boss well. Grennell is the "ugly American" who pontificated to German officials on German affairs. Instead of building bridges, he burned them. Only Trump would nominate an abrasive Ambassador to alienate an ally. And now this bombastic Trumpian sycophant is our intelligence chief? I guess it shouldn't surprise us that an unqualified but hubristic president nominates appointees of the same ilk.
3
This is Putin’s dream come true!
1
It isn't rocket science to know that the greatest threat to our national security is the guy living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in DC.
3
It was well known long before he was "elected" that trumpy would destroy, ruin and defame the U.S. government because he is a malignant lunatic. The people who put him in office, and I don't mean the voters, have to answer for all of his crimes. But in the world we live in now they will never be named.
1
Our Commander in Chief is a national security threat who must be voted out of office in November and legally prosecuted for his crimes thereafter
1
A Democrat complaining about getting rid of deep state Democrats? Will wonders never cease.
2
Some thoughts on my 40+ years in the intelligence community:
Intelligence is the process designed to reduce ambiguity for decision-makers.
Intelligence analysts are like bat boys/bat girls in the decision-makers/operators baseball games. We pass them the bats and balls; they play the game. If they don't like the bat we give them we go back into the dugout and give them another bat.
There has always been politicization of intelligence at the highest levels of the intelligence community; no matter what party or administration.
Our intelligence community is bloated. The implementation of the Director of National Intelligence/office was to streamline processes and enable cross-community information sharing. It's time for another commission to review the intelligence community.
2
@Fran
Do you know how many CT analysts there are at CIA? Its ridiculous. I would love to see the DNI abolished -- it has failed at its mission, as you suggest -- and a good 25% of the intel analysis workforce reduced by attrition. Bloated is not the word.
We all should be celebrating Trump. Our intelligence agency needs to be put in its place, they need to be told who is actually in charge. I hope Grenell goes in there with a wrecking ball and get rid of the deadweight and all the partisan hack’s that Obama put in. Celebrate this day don’t fear it.
PDB March 1, 2020: Deep State! The Ukrainians are coming! And the Iranians! Putin promised that Russia didn’t interfere in 2016 and we believe him.
Lets remember that these "intelligence" agencies could't figure out that Aldrich Ames, part of the highest command at the CIA, was a Russian operative. Or that the FBI's Robert Hanson was a Russian operative. Or that James Pollard was stealing nuclear secrets for Israel. These folks are not exactly the sharpest quills on the porcupine!
How, then, do you expect they would catch Trump as a Russian operative? Just because he gave them state secrets on TV in the Oval Office? Or had a bromance with Putin at a European event, also on TV, or that he had a secret meeting, alone, with Putin and refuses to tell ANYONE what was discussed? Or that most of the people paying rent in his Trump Tower in NYC are Russian oligarchs? Probably all just coincidence, right?
23
The problem with this Trump toady (Grenell) is that nobody can believe him. Or trust him on national intelligence and security matters. Or on political/national security matters like the security and integrity of the 2020 elections.
He's just another in a line of Acting Trump Minions who could never be confirmed in the Senate because of lack of expertise, trust or other deficiencies (even though it's a GOP Majority Senate). He serves only two purposes (none of which are legitimate or even professional): Trump's cork to suppress public knowledge of anything coming out of the intelligence agencies that might hurt Trump's reelection chances; and two, as a planted mole on the US network of intelligence agencies, reporting back to Trump about any "problem" conclusions of US intelligence analysts. None of these tasks fits the category of serving America's national security or foreign policy interests.
Grenell must be thrown out by popular demand. That means you, GOP.
The act of politicizing the entire intelligence service structure is not an administrative change. It is an act of sabotage carried out immediately before the Russian hackers are about to attack our election system. Knowing that the Russians are already starting the attack and crippling our intelligence is a signal to Russia that the door is open. Since we are now at war, cyberwar, with Russia, Trumps act is treason in the purest sense.
The military services that contain our now compromised defense systems should immediately take action against Donald Trump and remove him from office. Mike Pense can immediately assume the position of president and commander in chief as specified by our constitution and there will be no break in civilian leadership or change of political party at the top. The military can jail Trump under the charge of treason and begin proceedings against him in a military court. Trump can have defense council and can explain his secret meetings with Putin under oath. If the military court clears Trump he can resume his position as president. If the court finds him guilty he can go to Leavenworth. Either way, the nation will be protected by our security services and military cyberwar defense systems during this critical election season.
3
PARANOIA. Remember those weapons of mass destruction -- that did not exist. Remember all the young men coming back from Vietnam in body bags. Remember that "killing fields" of mines put there by the CIA are still in Cambodia.
No righteous or logical person would want anything to do with the pretend intelligence community -- probably staffed by paranoid persons who are afraid of Cuba.
Sometimes I really admire Trump for shaking up a lot of what he has shaken up... and is it nice for Americans to spy on Angela Market's phone calls.
Give me a break and stop playing so many games.
3
Our intelligence agencies have hardly done a great job since the end of WWII. They missed China going Communist, North Korea invading the South, the fall of the Soviet Union while getting countless situations WRONG. The blowback from removing the Iranian government in 1953 continues to this day. They missed 9/11 - the biggest loss of American life on American soil since Pearl Harbor. At the same time they have been linked to illegal drug trafficking in Vietnam and in Central America. Their obsession with Cuba has been pathological while they have treated the American public they are supposed to serve as threats.
JFK proposed dissolving the CIA. Carter tried and failed. As much as Trump horrifies me, I am more scared what has been wrought by of our intelligence agencies running amok over the last 70 years.
4
Despite the insanity of Trump and his need for worship (of self), we need to keep perspective and to not forget the flawed history of the intelligence community. Why? Because... Trump is using these flaws as monolithic disasters to justify his disregard and disrespect for the various agencies. While such lows in the intelligence community seem tangential to what is being written about here, if they are not acknowledged we are handing the keys of the kingdom over that much more easily. The days of the intelligence community filled with the best and brightest from Harvard and Yale, and romanticized as if it was Camelot is long over. If one needs a reminder, watch Narcos:Mexico. Please do not read my message as anything close to justification for Trump's pathetic judgment. I just don't think that climbing high on a horse is going to get us very far in managing public opinion, as I still have hope of connecting with some of his base.
2
Loyalty before truth is Trump’s mantra. I cannot understand his paranoia. He is well positioned after the impeachment failure.
1
@NOTATE REDMOND: Trump's paranoia is due to the recent announcement that the Russians are once again interfering with the 2020 election (as predicted by Mueller). Just as Trump attempted to pin interference with the 2016 election on Ukraine rather than Russia, our Narcissist-in-chief is now trying to establish the idea that the Russians are actually rigging the nomination of Sanders, not the 2020 election (which is already taken care of by the Republicans' manipulation of voter registers). True, Grenell's appointment is based on loyalty, not competence.
1
Is the purge of intelligence experience simple pique or is acting on behalf of a foreign country? Really, it could be both but we will never know as long as he has collaborators covering for him. This is a catastrophe in the making.
3
Thank you Ms Harmon for simplifying the situation that has been brewing inside Donald Trump's empty head since he declared himself a stable genius. What spooks me are the people he chooses to work for US, the people, to keep US safe. It spooks me to think that we have a team of Trump heads, all stable geniuses, without a clue, without a spine and without a drop of red, white and blue blood in their veins.
2
Our intelligence agencies abilities...9/11.
2
It is frighting to envision that another 4 years of Trump, there will be no FBI, CIA, DNI. Trump will appoint all his yes men to these post. Putin must be smiling
4
Carnage,not rebirth. is all ll America has to show after three years of Trump. Irresponsible tax cut that delivered no economic growth and exploding out debt, and carnage to all our institutions, trumps legacy together with his overall amoral and degenerate behavior. Trump the American Tragedy, sadly self inflicted.
Trump to paraphrase the idiot in chef; How is your 401K doing this afternoon? I am sure Trump will blame it on Hilary and Obama.
2
Here we go again with politicized FAKE NEWS. As anyone who has worked in Intelligence knows, the DNI and CIA director positions have been occupied by non career intelligence professionals many many times. Usually under Democrat Presidents. Gambling in Casablanca, I'm shocked. Rich contributors getting plum Ambassadorships to London, instead of career Foreign Service Officers, shocking, especially if its a Republican President doing the appointments.
I'm old enough to remember Leon Panetta being appointed DCI. But, since Obama appointed him, this political hack, was ok. Who replaced him? Oh come on, it was Army General Petraeus, hardly an intelligence professional.
Who did Trump put in as his first CIA chief? A congressman from Kansas, are you kidding me? No scandal here, nothing to see here. Its routine to alternate between career intelligence officers and political appointments.
But at the DNI level the NYTimes hypocrisy knows no bounds. Ms Harman knows very well that the first DNI John Negroponte was a foreign service officer and former ambassador to Honduras, Mexico and Panama etc etc. Where were the screams and cries of outrage when Trump appointed Dan Coats, Republican Congressman and the FORMER Ambassador to Germany.
Enough already. Grenell, the FORMER Ambassador to Germany, is just as qualified. The ONLY precedence he is breaking is that he will be the first openly GAY cabinet member in our history.
SO that make his critics, Homophobes?
4
@Reddy He's not the FORMER Ambassador to Germany, he is in fact the current Ambassador, and he is keeping that position in addition to his new acting DNI position.
rofessionals many many times. Usually under Democrat Presidents. Gambling in Casablanca, I'm shocked. Rich contributors getting plum Ambassadorships to London, instead of career Foreign Service Officers, shocking, especially if its a Republican President doing the appointments.
I'm old enough to remember Leon Panetta being appointed DCI. But, since Obama appointed him, this political hack, was ok. Who replaced him? Oh come on, it was Army General Petraeus, hardly an intelligence professional.
Who did Trump put in as his first CIA chief? A congressman from Kansas, are you kidding me? No scandal here, nothing to see here. Its routine to alternate between career intelligence officers and political appointments.
But at the DNI level the NYTimes hypocrisy knows no bounds. Ms Harman knows very well that the first DNI John Negroponte was a foreign service officer and former ambassador to Honduras, Mexico and Panama etc etc. Where were the screams and cries of outrage when Trump appointed Dan Coats, Republican Congressman and the FORMER Ambassador to Germany.
Enough already. Grenell, the FORMER Ambassador to Germany, is just as qualified. The ONLY precedence he is breaking is that he will be the first openly GAY cabinet member in our history.
SO that make his critics, Homophobes?
1
Trump truly believes that he is always the "smartest" person in the room. He truly believes he does not need "intelligence" information from anyone and can make decisions on the basis of whatever his remaining few functioning brain cells dredge up from his past on any particular day. The fact he has not learned a single thing since his daddy stopped indoctrinating him (or more accurately, has never "learned" anything at all on his own) is of no concern to him. Indeed, he probably does not even comprehend how utterly ignorant and stupid he is. And THAT is a sign of a truly ignorant and stupid person. Sad that his groupies can't figure that out even after several years of daily demonstrations of his total incomprehension of world affairs.
1
I am most scared of people that have a sports fan mentality towards government. Democrat vs Republican as if one is exclusive of the other. It takes both of them to get anything accomplished and to do to peoples work. Those of you who root only for your "team" and just give the other side a pass because they have the opposite ideology are wrong. There needs to be a #me too for government officials. Democrats and Republicans are both guilty of betraying the trust of the people and not doing the job. We need to expose them and employ common people, not just those who live off of the public like parasites. If you are working for corporations or lobbyists- You are fired, next! I know a lot of Americans willing to work for the salaries in Washington, honestly work for Americans. Don't root for someone because of what you think they stand for, find our their record. The next Me Too needs to be in Washington.
1
Look, Ms. Harman. As far as Mr. Trump is concerned, this is very personal. He sees an array of US law enforcement agencies are eagerly line up, awaiting his term of office to finish, so they can go after him. What would anyone else in his position do to get out of this situation?
Mr. Trump strategy to pull himself out of this morass is simple. He is bent on discrediting all key agencies of the US government. He will keep doing that to the point that no one would believe these agencies are apolitical. He wants the public to be convinced that any charge against him has no basis in facts, and is invented for purely political purposes.
1
If by "speaking truth to power," you mean, "Mr. President, it is our duty to advise you we believe the Russians are planting divisive social media posts on the internet," what exactly is Trump supposed to do about it? Outlaw Twitter? Outlaw Facebook? Declare war on Russia? Why don't we ask the intelligence community to put its resources to work on something practical, e.g. figuring out if Russia is abiding by its nuclear arms treaty restrictions or analyzing Russia's military operations in support of Assad. Tracking social media posts is low-hanging fruit that can be subcontracted to eighth graders.
2
@Paulsed he is supposed to say CUT IT OUT, LIKE Obama did!
This column is spot on. And it's valid to be even more terrified than the immediate visible facts warrant because, as in many other areas, the unseen damage already done and the potential for more is massive and could well be irreparable.
I know people who deliberately left government service when Trump was elected, precisely because they saw this kind of thing coming. Now it is a reality. God help us.
3
All of this is exactly what a Russian agent, or Useful Idiot, would do.
5
In true Orwellian fashion Mr. Trump intends to replace the function of national intelligence with the "Ministry of Truth".
Truth will be what president Trump declares it to be; anything else deemed "fake news". Mr. Trump's lemmings surge for the cliff, while the rest of us, still tethered to reality, observe in some state of disbelief.
The disbelief needs to end. This is where we are, America. It is existential, and it is dire beyond words.
10
Like the tech guys say "It's not a bug, it's a feature." Trump and his enablers want government to be hollowed out and ineffective, so that they can point at the very thing they have crippled and condemn it for not performing. Then its functions can be sold off to the highest bidder so their cronies can rake in taxpayer dollars, while improving as little as possible. It's straight up tin-pot dictator behavior, and few if any of the GOP Congressional caucus has the spine to stand up and point it out. If those of us in the electorate who still care don't act, in the future, those places that have historians will point to this time period the same way our historians point to the rise of the Triumvirs in Rome as the end of the Republic.
2
Our Great Leader has determined that we don't need any intelligence agencies, they only produce Fake News anyway. Our Great Leader knows all that needs to be known, and if he does need some information, there is Fox News to give him the real scoop. We will save much needed money if these agencies just go away. The employees can go get real jobs in the real world.
1
Putting someone with no intelligence experience, but groveling loyalty to the president, at the head of intelligence agencies.
Gee, what could go wrong?
This is just another example of why Trump must be removed from the office of the presidency.
7
Hmm, how does Ms Harmon explain the total lack of truth in the "intelligence" community's assessment of the situation in Iraq before Dubya, Cheya decided to invade? Not a single piece of "evidence" given by George "Slam Dunk" Tenet was true. Not. A. Single. One.
Obviously the "intelligence" community was completely gamed by the ultra right wingers during the Dubya administration and simply provided the "intelligence" they wanted in order to justify an invasion.
Of course, the "intelligence" community has a long an sordid history of lying to the American People and incompetence at just about everything. So what is new here?
2
If a Democrat made this selection, it would have met with applause. But the President names a gay man to the highest post in America, and he's chastised for it. Where is the celebration?
2
Rubbish. If a Democrat made that appointment, there would be tiki torches in the streets and Fox News screams that weak kneed liberals were capitulating to the enemy.
2
@Ray Ozyjowski, he's not being chastised for appointing a gay man; he's being chastised for appointing a man with no relevant experience who is openly partisan.
@Ray Ozyjowski The difference is that the Democrat would have selected someone who is actually qualified for the position.
If Trump's "loyalists" remove spies spying on Russia, we should be shaking in our boots.
2
What has the CIA or the NSC done in recent memory to earn the public’s trust? The whole “intelligence community” should have been dissolved after the Iraq-WMD fiasco. And that’s not even taking into account the CIA’s history of failure going back to the Bay of Pigs.
2
@Greg, not sure the intelligence services can be blamed for the Iraq debacle. I think what happened was decided, period. Here's what we're going to do. Ever heard of "don't fit the policy to the intelligence; fit the intelligence to the policy."
Why did I think of Stalin while reading this article?
" Upon becoming the clear leader of the USSR, Stalin began installing loyalists to leadership positions and expelling opponents, including many of Lenin’s former allies.
Leon Trotsky, once the second-most important theorist of Soviet dogma after Lenin, was exiled to Central Asia in 1928 and then forced to leave the USSR in 1929. He was assassinated in 1940.
Stalin began reversing Lenin’s New Economic Policy and forcibly collectivizing farms throughout the country, leading to a devastating famine in 1932-1933.
He also further tightened restrictions on freedom of expression and implemented a more conservative social policy.
Stalin was known for demonizing anyone he saw as a threat, labeling them Trotskyites and counter-revolutionaries.
Thousands were expelled from the Communist Party in the early 1930s. In 1936, however, expulsions accelerated, and perceived opponents were no longer simply ejected from the party but were also arrested and in many cases executed."
https://jsis.washington.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/USSR_Stalin_Great_Purge.pdf
Chilling parallels. I don't think there will be formal government execution squads, but the current occupant has called on his '2nd Amendment people' to do.... something.
The message has been clear and many people have had their lives threatened.
7
Ideological or partisan purges like these are usually not the best idea. These Trump purges are horrible for our government and country. And, since Sanders campaign staffers are now openly talking about purging non-movement Democrats from political office and party positions (see, for instance, the interview with the same on NPR yesterday), should he get the nomination, I guess I need to add that such purges are not Ok for us Democrats, too. We are a big-tent party in a big-tent country. Our system of democracy is messy and contingent on pragmatics not ideologies. We don't all need to be forced to be Sanders movement fanatics.
3
Cue the hard to swallow Dick Cheney, who may have spun out the only truly useful words of his time starting wars - I paraphrase: You have the known knowns, the unknown knowns and the unknown unknowns.
The unknown unknowns are the scary ones. In this case, you don't have a clue about what you don't know and that is what the intel services are always trying to sort.
Under Trump, everything is headed toward unknown unknowns.
Enemies can have at the USA with ever-decreasing fear that they and their plans will be discovered.
It doesn't help to go back and reconstruct a terrible event after it has already happened. 9/11 is the biggest example of this.
The purpose of the intel services is to stop the 9/11 event from happening.
With Trump, we have a president who wants zero scrutiny so nothing can be used as oversight over his administration. Their excuse is the favorite Fox News topic, the "deep state."
The intelligence services are at the heart of the Trumpian deep state conspiracy hoax.
The "deep state" wants to take Trump out of office. Never mind if the intel services are uncovering dangerous behaviors by this administration that place the nation at risk, ignore the rule of law and create gaps in the country's ability to ferret out the things that threaten our freedom.
This situation places our covert assets at deep risk of exposure. It places our globally deployed armed forces at immediate risk of attack. It is paranoid partisan criminality run by Trump.
2
@John Harrington I think it was Rumsfeld that said that- but point well taken.
1
It was said by Donald Rumsfeld as DOD......another sterling character, filled w gobs of wisdom.....
2
Those true words were spoken by Donald Rumsfeld. Dick Cheney has never said a true thing in his life.
1
The DNI position is a perfect example of bureaucratic overkill. There already was a CIA head, an NSA head, a DIA head. Why have another head? Just these three agencies are each enormous and understanding what they do and how they do it are just impossible for an outsider looking in. There is just no substitute for a President who understands how to use these agencies to protect the country. Remember how Bush/Cheney got us into an endless and disastrous war in Iraq with erroneous/maybe fake intel that Sadam had weapons of mass destruction? A President who picks over the intel until he gets what he wants is not new.
2
"A so-called house clearing could damage our intelligence abilities for at least a generation."
It's exactly the objective of Trump and his accomplices.
The dictatorship must end on November 3rd.
7
Jane Harman has described in detail what we generally know: Trump is so incompetent as Commander in Chief that he may as well be an enemy double agent. Our intelligence services are the true barrier that protects us against enemies. By decapitating and hollowing out our intelligence services Trump is exposing us to grave dangers. This is a story that needs far more attention.
10
I wish the democratic candidates would bring this up more often. How are they planning to repair this damage?
6
Well Ms Harman, as a former constituent of yours who disagreed with you on nearly every position, including your support of torture regimes, war profiteers, and endless war I must say I do agree with you here. To a degree.
A nation as large and as powerful as ours does need a centralized intelligence gathering entity, and a SigInt entity as well. However, the idea that we need militarized domestic spying groups under DNI and endless anti-democratic skirmishes around the empires edges that turn into frightening hot wars, creating more hatred and fear of the USA, is as wrong as Trump's incompetent bumbling attempt to create a loyalist Praetorian Guard. We need something much more visionary and different than the cold war militarism of the past, or the present evil that is the deconstruction of our institutional intelligence. If things do not change dramatically on November 4, then we will be stuck in a never-ending loop of going from chaos to hegemony and back again. We need a whole new vision.
2
Like many, I've been at the drama-end of awry intelligence. That was rare, however, and through it all we always carried (in hindsight, not necessarily at the time!) the underlying confidence that the gatherers and analysts had our backs, and that they held the nation's best interests highest in their endeavors. That ended last week, and I would have thought long and hard about remaining if I was still doing that type of work. We did not, nor do not now, nor in the future, serve just one man. We serve the Flag of the Nation and its people under its Constitution. That's where loyalty resides, and this current, and hopefully very temporary, president doesn't understand the word.
3
Just in case it's legal to stand up for one's beliefs, like say in the U.S. Constitution, then I dearly hope that all decent people in the U.S. government and in particular in the intelligence services and in the law enforcement branch of government ... will stand up for their beliefs. It has never been more important.
5
Bernie isn't my first choice, but for those who are worried about what will happen if he is nominated, he sure won't politicize every cabinet position and everything else he touches. He would likely ask searching questions and think a lot before acting.
6
The D.C. bureaucracy is a government all to itself, chooing to support one leader while treating another as its enemy.
We cannot have this continue. There must never again exist a cohort of a dozen or two people who can all but dis-elect a President chosen by the people.
Either we have this friend of the Founders, Donald Trump, clean up this mess, or we need to start having elections for EACH head of these agencies:
the FBI,
the Dept. of Justice,
the CIA,
and Director of National Intelligence.
2
@L osservatore
Donald Trump is as corrupt as the day is long. He does not want "clean" intelligence agencies. He wan't compliant ones that do not investigate him or his dark connections to even darker forces outside our country.
Trump DID bribe the head of a foreign nation to dig up dirt on a domestic political candidate. He was given freedom for a deserved Guilty verdict by complicit party hack enablers. He was not found innocent by any reputable people. Only party hacks.
3
@L osservatore
Trump was not chosen by the people. He was chosen by the antiquated anti-democratic Electoral College. Luckily for us, the D.C. bureaucracy is acting as a check and balance against this out-of-control autocrat. Trump is hardly a "friend of the Founders." He is an embodiment of the Founders' worst nightmares.
3
@John, "the DC bureaucracy is acting as a check and balance"? It is? What checks and balances are you seeing that I am not? It looks to many as if we are almost in free fall. I'd be so grateful to see ANY check or balance right about now.
1
Will our former allies want to confide secrets to us without a professional set of spooks to give it to? No.
We will be seen as the new, but very powerful adversary that must be carefully worked around.
Again we have people in power who have disdain for fact and information. Like the GW Bush administration (I'd love to have GW back!) the current people in power see myth and narrative skillfully told as being the be all end all. Myths skillfully told to vulnerable people go a long way, but they do eventually blow up, it takes longer than 4 years. Remember the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and slashing financial regulation is the key to growth?
If Trump is re elected, which I think is highly likely, whatever happens to us through our arrogance and ignorance, is our own fault.
2
Trump's mission for the intelligence community is increasingly to spy INSIDE his government, not outside. For this purpose, it sounds like he couldn't have chosen a better guy.
4
@caroline - - - Things need fixing in the government bureaucracy before the American people can trust these agencies again. So, yes indeed, the looking must begin inside the gov't.
Says who?
Even if your assertion is true,
Don the con, master of the 8 bankruptcies, wouldn’t even be my last choice.
I wouldn’t trust him to change a roll of toilet paper.
@L osservatore This isn't about anything other than whether the people involved are Trumpies all the way, not whether they are able and honest intelligence gatherers.
1
Just another of Trump's moves to dismantle America's most important institutions. Is it an impetuous and vindictive move
because his ego can't allow any information that casts doubt
on his election? Or is it a calculated move to weaken the
country's intelligence capabilities to please Putin? Or is it both?
In the meantime, Mc Connell refuses to bring to the floor additional legislation from the House to protect the election, and his Republican cohorts just sit mutely by on the sidelines.
Thanks to Jane Harman for outlining the truly frightening perils ahead for the nation if this President is allowed to
undermine its security with impunity.
3
In a life in the Cold War I gained an understanding of the Intel Community, particularly in my last Foreign Service job, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research (INR) in George Shultz's State Department.
I learned an old doctrine, honored in the breach, that of competitive intel analysis. Often the most useful analysis is found in dissents. That was certainly true when CIA Director George Tenet allowed political pressures to hornswoggle the CIA into writing the fatal NIE that said Saddam Hussein had a WMD program. The intel agencies that got it right, the Energy Department's and INR, wrote dissents which were not shown to President Bush.
Post-mortems recommended analytic emphasis on contrasting in the NIEs and elsewhere Can you imagine Mr. Grenell chartering a new NIE "proving" the Kremlin doesn't intervene in American elections? Dissents not tolerated.
As Shultz's memoirs indicate, Bill Casey pressed for analysis supporting his views, notably a belief that Gorbachev was faking a desire to end the Cold War (see Jim Mann's the Rebellion of Ronald Reagan for an account of how Reagan. over the opposition of advisors, save for wife Nancy and Shultz, worked with Gorbyachev to end the conflict.
The creation of the DNI was a well-intentioned mistake; it gave power to create "alternative facts" to a single person. Trump's new Director. Richard Grenell has an opportunity to purge the DNI into a Ministry of Truth.
8
@Frank McNeil
Maybe the whole thing should just go away. Why do we need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on bureaucrats trained in overthinking and lying to cover up their mistakes?
1
Many of us have figured out that Trump cares only about Trump, and doesn't care about the United States beyond how much money he can make off the taxpayers.
Unfortunately, there are people who don't follow the news who think Trump is the greatest president in history.
11
"It’s impossible to know how many clues we will miss if our intelligence community is isolated from the world and the president’s daily brief only reinforces what the administration wants to hear."
This is classic "emperor has no clothes" strategy, and as Ms. Harmon spells out so well, puts our country in even greater danger than before.
Intelligence gathering and assessment must be the most difficult job in the world, given advances in disinformation and spying techniques. It must demand enormous brain power, and people skills, to ensure 17 agencies are all on the same page.
But if that same page is reduced not only to what the president wants to hear but also to whatever conspiracy theory has taken root in his brain, we're in trouble indeed.
What's it going to take for Congress to wake up to this "brave new world?" What catastrophe looms on Trump's watch if he's decimating the very experts who watch out for Americans?
619
@ChristineMcM
You ask, What's it going to take for Congress to wake up to this "brave new world?"
I would respectfully say that what you mean is "What's it going to take for REPUBLICANS to wake up to this "brave new world?"
305
@Adrienne: yes, I was imprecise. I clearly meant Republicans, because in Congress, the House Democrats had the power to impeach this man, and it was Republicans who let him live on to destroy America for another day.
127
@ChristineMcM
"What's it going to take for Congress to wake up to this "brave new world?" What catastrophe looms on Trump's watch if he's decimating the very experts who watch out for Americans?"
You mean the Republicans in Congress don't you? But why should they do anything? Their side is winning! Some much winning. Do you think the people who bankroll and fund the Republicans are unhappy with this situation? I think this is what they have wanted all along. A government you can finally drown in a bathtub.
61
It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry here. Jane Harman was in the vanguard of destroying privacy rights, until she discovered she herself was the object of government spying -- she was recorded seeking what appeared to be a quid pro quo with AIPAC.
Then she was all outrage and civil liberties.
The Bush administration squashed the investigation because they "needed" Jane -- to promote their universal wiretap program.
3
@jrd Excellent. Thank you.
How much training does it take to cull through the seven intelligence agencies files and destroy all the Trump dossiers? Seems like an entry-level secretary could do that.
1
The NY Times writes "Ms. Harman was a lead author of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004,"
In the interest of fair and complete reporting
Ms. Harman was the Democratic Representative of California 1993 to 1999 and 2000 to 2011
From Salon
"Major scandal erupts involving Rep. Jane Harman, Alberto Gonzales and AIPAC
CQ reports that a key member of Congress was caught on wiretaps agreeing to intervene in a criminal prosecution of AIPAC officials, but Bush's AG protected her"
"Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee"
"in October, 2006, Time reported that the DOJ and FBI were investigating whether Harman and AIPAC "violated the law in a scheme to get Harman reappointed as the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee" and "the probe also involves whether, in exchange for the help from AIPAC, Harman agreed to help try to persuade the Administration to go lighter on the AIPAC officials caught up in the ongoing investigation."
https://www.salon.com/test/2009/04/20/harman/
6
Care is not in the vocabulary of the members of this administration. Destruction is their watchword and diminution of anticipating global threats and crises will be the result. Ham-handed, bull-headed, irrational, and reactionary aptly describe the modus operandi of trump & his minions. No good news will occur if trump is allowed four more years.
4
Ms. Harmon frames this crisis as something uniquely Trumpian. It is more likely a natural tension between fallible and insecure presidents and professional intelligence technocrats whose job it is to educate honestly the president and House and Senate Intelligence Committees about domestic and international threats to the Republic.
History shows that President’s lie and spin intelligence, and the CIA is frequently complicit. These agencies only occasionally show the courage to speak truth to power.
Were this otherwise, we would not need Inspectors General, whistleblowers, and periodic public congressional oversight hearings of both presidents and their agency directors and staff .
It is important to recall that the CIA never predicted the death of The USSR and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
As the Roman poet Juvenal taught, “ Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will watch the watchmen?
Destroying the U.S. intelligence capacity and the nation's confidence in it has long been a goal of Putin, the ex-KBG officer, and Russia.
The pertinent question is whether Trump is in Lenin's words a "useful idiot" in this process or a Russian Agent. Amazingly, the answer is unclear.
6
Is this the same Jane Harman who in 2009 colluded with an Israeli intelligence officer to use her influence to reduce or eliminate criminal charges against two AIPAC officials in return for a pledge of assistance from Israel to make her chief of the House Intelligence Committee? Having an Israeli asset as head of the committee would have been great for America's national security.
3
But what of the fact that "nonpolitical appointees on the National Security Council staff (the Vindman brothers...)" behave in a highly political and partisan manner, pushing their own agenda ahead of that of the President? Should a President keep people on his councils at the highest level who undermine his policies and willfully leak?
2
Conflict between elected heads of States and intelligence agencies are not confined to the US
In the UK, Boris Johnson is at odds with M15
'Open crisis between Boris Johnson's government and MI5 spies
The intelligence services will not trust the Minister of the Interior and will limit the information that he communicated to him."
Le Monde, 2/24/2020
It is the old age conflict between those who need to account to those who elect them and the spies who are deeply convinced that they know better.
In a democratic society, repugnant as it may be, you need to side with the elected official(s) as otherwise you get a society that is run by non-accountable set of bureaucrats that play their own games
https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/crise-ouverte-entre-le-gouvernement-de-boris-johnson-et-les-espions-du-mi5-20200224
2
To suggest that our intelligence agencies speak truth to power is delusional. They provide the lies that lead us to enact crippling economic sanctions, overthrow democratically elected governments, and bomb and invade foreign counties. As dangerous as Trump is, the intelligence community is worse.
2
Grenell is there to destroy the CIA. I'm a Democrat, but I hate to tell you that the destruction of this corrupt, inept monster is more than welcome as should be the case in any democracy.
Espionage, intelligence, yes if it is real. The CIA has become the voice for the warmongering right. Of course, a President, any President doesn't put on a raincoat and take a foreign newspaper to stand, unobserved in doorways and look for what is going on in other countries. That is for the intelligence people. So any President must listen to counsel on what to do with foreign policy.
Since Truman reluctantly created the CIA in 1947, it has lied, as all espionage people do, but it not only has lied to foreign sources to get foreign information, it has given false information to America's Presidents or said what Presidents want to hear politically.
It started with The Gulf of Tonkin to justify the Korean war. It went through the facilitation of heroin traffic (read The Politics Of Heroin!) Then there was an entire series of false info on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, Syria, the Ukraine, etc. Now it's about elections.
Our intelligence has proven that it is brainless, extremist, right-wing - and we do not need it!
We need to have what the intelligence community is supposed to be: competent counsel for foreign policy decision makers. Spook the others, but not our own country.
1
@Anonymot ...
I agree with all that you allege, except for the "right-wing" bit. That I will dispute.
The intelligence communities have displayed a remarkable, bi-partisan trend when it comes to giving its advice...
The only sure thing that can be said is that the intelligence community provides self-serving information to the Chief Executive, information that has a thumb on the scale...
Evidence of this sort of bureaucratic flavoring can be seen in the extravagantly executed deceptions revealed by the Horowitz report on the abuses that mislead the FISA courts in granting warrants for spying on American citizens.
2
@Anonymot The Gulf of Tonkin resolution had to do with justification of the war in Viet Nam, not Korea.
Wake up Republicans! This is a clarion call to put country ahead of partisan politics.
Silence in the face of evil is evil. There is a time when remaining silent is betrayal.
2
The ONLY PURPOSE of the branches of the Federal Government is to make Donald J Trump look good.
Period - Full stop
What part of that don't you understand ?
3
I remember before Trump was elected his supporters would say " Yeah he's inexperienced but he'll surround himself with good people"...Epic fail.
5
Trump confuses the United States of America and his own fragile ego as being one and the same. Of course as all authoritarian dictators they seek total admiration without exception and those that disagree need to be removed ,imprisoned or shot. Trump admires the "strong" leaders like Kim and Putin who rule with an iron fist crushing any dissidents with force so they can stay in power and never be replaced. Trump does not want any information that threatens his fragile ego from interference in our elections or the economy he is convinced no leader in the world has been as wonderful as him so he needs to destroy reality with his lying tweets and toadies like AG Barr who think him a King.
2
A purge like this proves Trump is not only un-leashed, he has become completely irrational. He doesn't want to hear about Russian election meddling, and Grenell is there to watch the President's back. I also think he wiil be Trump's personal spy on the spies.
There are other reports today that Trump is reducing staff in the White House, and those who survive must be loyal to Trump personally. This is looney behavior and puts the safety of our country at risk. There needs to be serious discussion about the 25th Amendment.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/24/politics/trump-administration-purge/index.html
3
Your opposition to this appointment is simply because President Trump appointed him, or because he is openly gay. Perhaps it is both?
1
@Trail Reeves
The piece was clear. The author is opposed because he is morally and intellectually unfit, and because he is a partisan hack.
Richard Grenell is morally and intellectually unfit for the job of acting director of national intelligence. On a daily basis he promotes pro-Trump conspiracy theories. As an ambassador to Germany, he has used his public position to defend European white supremacists. The present administration is now mostly inept, dishonest, immoral sycophants and rightwing extremists. Trump has even brought back the nuts and liars that Kelly and others had fired. They are wholly incapable of responding to any kind of crisis. By all accounts (that is, according to this paper and Congress people who were at the hearing), just yesterday Robert O'Brien intentionally misrepresented, on the president's behalf, the findings of our own intelligence agencies regarding ongoing Russian sabotage of our elections on the president's behalf.
3
You haven't seen nouthin yet if Trump gets reelected. Trump's only concern is keeping power and his own false image, that he is not enthralled to Russia and Putin. Terrorism, threats to our nation, nothing to Trump is more important. And when Trump was not convicted in his impeachment trial by his GOP enablers he was given full permission to fulfill his agenda of destroying any vestige of facts that might contradict his lies and obfuscations.
1
So much of what we see Trump and his people doing is based on what they don’t want. They don’t want to be constrained by facts, laws, traditions, institutions. They don’t want to have to explain their rash actions. They just want a free hand to do whatever they feel like doing.
But the question arises, to what end? While we keep rehashing the damage he’s doing, no one in this administration is called to account for a positive explanation of their actions; in service of what policy or idea does Grenell fit in as Director?
I think that rather than getting bogged down in the destruction from Trump’s slashing and burning, we should be focused on highlighting the complete lack of cohesive planning, the absence of any rational thread to organize a policy around, the essential stupidity of Trump’s way.
Remember when Republicans screamed about whether this or that (minor) policy change served American interests? I think it’s a good question for Trump and his flunkies.
Okay, another day, another horror story. And this is how we fix that: register to vote, find your polling place, and show up in November to vote for a Democrat. I don't care which Democrat at this point. I don't like Sanders but I'll vote for him. I'll vote for his DOG. Remember--vote for a Democrat in November. Or suffer--along with all of us--the horrific consequences of another bad Tuesday in November.
9
Next we will get someone from Fox. Someone that Trump trusts to do his bidding. Someone that either thinks like Trump of will say whatever Trump wants to hear.
As others have mentioned, instead of watching out for those that would do harm to the USA, the Intelligence community will have to focus on anyone that says things about Trump that he does not like.
Very scary times in the good old USA.
Vote him out and many of the GOP.
6
Grenell will not be careful, nor judicious. He will do what Trump wants, to dismantle national intelligence. I wish everyone would stop saying, I wish, I hope, when referring to Trump appointees possibly doing right for their country instead of Trump. It won't happen.
11
I see by some of the replies to my comment below that I have been misunderstood, at least in part. I am NOT supporting Mr. Grenell's appopintment; even mentioning his name in the same breath as "intelligence community" is an insult to the IC. Obviously, the best person for the job of DNI is an experienced intelligence professional with years of management experience.
The point of my original comment was to explain that my beef is with the DNI -- and the bloated bureaucracy it represents -- itself. Ms. Harman thinks that she did the IC a favor by helping create that monster. She did not.
Perhaps not many here are aware that the CIA used to be the principal IC component. Not after 2004. Its stature was reduced, and its principal publication -- the President's Daily Brief -- was for the first time ordered to accept contributions from other agencies. It took a good seven years for that process to organize, so fierce was resistance from the agency. And who could blame CIA? Far from having a unifying effect on the IC, that development left CIA feeling beleaguered, frustrated and resentful. The repercussions were felt, and continue to reverberate today, throughout the IC: because they must be cleared by everyone, the analyses in that document is tepid at best.
There is much more to be told, but the bottom line for me and my long-time colleagues: creation of the DNI threw bodies at intelligence problems, but ultimately did NOTHING to improve intelligence analysis.
5
Just reading "Midnight in Chernobyl," and chilled by the descriptions of the KGB, which of course is an arm of the Communist Party, and how they would intimidate people "speaking truth to power" by threats and making them sign NDA's, thereby burying the truth that the politicians didn't want to emerge. With this appointment, it seems like the US is on the same track. What happens if there is interference in the 2020 fall election that Trump doesn't want us to know?
6
@David Baldwin ...
Right...And, Robert Mueller found that Trump colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election...
Hillary Clinton was an effective campaigner for her cause, too.
Don't you think it's time to give up on the predictions? Your track record is awful.
I wonder if Canada would be willing to have California and the New England states leave the U.S. and join them? If Trump wins a second term and referenda are held in those states, I bet the majority of people will vote to do it. And they'd still technically be "Americans." Even though that would mean the red states would have to find other ways to prop themselves up financially/economically instead of relying on blue state workers/economies/taxes for that as they do now, since they claim that providence is on their side, they should do just fine.
4
In 2016, I was a moderate Trump supporter. But after three years of watching the arrogance of the “intelligence community” and their brazen efforts to undo an election, whose results were clearly intolerable to the Washington elite, it is obvious that the fate of our democracy hinges on Trump’s re-election and the total dismantling of the existing intelligence infrastructure.
4
I never understand why people think the removal of Trump, who is a clear and present danger to our Democracy, would "overturn an election". President Pence would step into the office and the White House would still be in Republican control. Statements like this show a lack of critical thinking, and make all subsequent statements suspect.
8
@Mebschn
Because by discrediting Trump, the intelligence agencies clearly believe they can limit the Trump/Pence administration to one term. Anyone who can’t see such an obvious fact is clearly lacking in critical thinking skills, and can’t be taken seriously.
The Intelligence Community created this mess by allowing the politicalization of senior positions. By the creation of a surveillance program that analyzes terabytes of American citizens internet and cellular traffic, all without a court order. They spy not only on our enemies, but our own allies, such as the Obama sanctioned program that hacked the communications of Merkel and other European leaders.
The tipping point came when Brennan promulgated the false Russian Trump narrative, despite no proof but based on lies and supposition.
This has created suspicion within the Executive Branch and whether the very departments under the control of the Executive Branch can be trusted. Purges will occur and perhaps this is necessary. It is critical that intelligence officers produce unbiased reports and do not work behind the scenes to leak information in an effort to further a political agenda. These agents out their own beliefs first rather than the safety of America.
2
Did you not see the evidence? It was and is clear as daylight. I can't believe you guys are actually want to blind yourselves.
2
@Ralph Möllers ...
Did you not see the evidence of NSC staffers openly opining that their beef was that the President, in whom the authority to set foreign policy is defined by the Constitution, chose not to follow "interagency consensus" as to what foreign policy should be?
It seems to me that you, sir, are the one that is being willfully ignorant!
1
What daily brief? The Resident did away with those a long time ago.
8
This is obviously a catastrophic choice for our nation, and Mr. Grennel should set his ego aside and refuse a post for which he knows he is fully unqualified.
America, we have seen first hand the disastrous results of poor leadership and political interference with our intelligence agencies. We had not only the 9/11 attacks, but horrific mismanagement of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars through three administrations. I know we have the people in our intelligence agencies with the dedication, abilities and knowledge to fix these things, but our leadership just hasn’t been engaged with, or listening to, the professionals who know what they’re doing.
This problem cannot be solved by either conservative or liberal ideologies in our leaders. It requires competence, focus, and hard work. America’s voters need to elect leaders who will do this, because we definitely do not have that right now.
6
Donny and buddy Vlad are playing the long game and, despite their public smokescreen, are counting on global warming to reignite the real estate development of former Stalin gulags in coastline Siberia. Drawing on the Trump brand, with years of experience in hiring illegal immigrants and maximizing the guest-worker visa allotments, these resorts will not have a staffing problem. With the current Soviet-inspired purge underway in D.C., the burgeoning supply of former White House staffers, diplomats, cabinet heads, department chiefs, ambassadors, not to mention intelligence experts, et al, will be quarantined on now-abandoned cruise ships and sent off to toil at the new resorts until their minds are "clear" (remember that group?) and to perform in the nightly shows, since most of the them have loads of "acting" experience. Unconfirmed rumors have it that Ivanka will design the prison (oops, resort) uniforms, Eric will open a new winery with model former D.C. staffers who excel in their re-education program allowed to pick grapes, and Donny, Jr. will operate a big game hunting program tracking down escapees. Jared will be snapping selfies with all of the disgraced and defrocked former formers. "Lots of people are saying" that, indeed, this will be the biggest real estate deal headed by a coalition of dictators and wannabe dictators in all of history, EVER. Believe me!
9
This is just the latest step in Trump's war on the 'deep state', which has come to mean anyone and anything that opposes his absolute rule. It seems many Americans have forgotten the whole reason we have extensive, independent government agencies run by career professionals and not politicians. It's not as Trump claims to undermine the power of the people; it's to achieve ends that politicians are too ignorant and shortsighted to see through.
4
The president clearly has become too powerful. He’s striding down 5th avenue, shooting out the windows of government, with an entourage following behind of “acting” appointees doing just that—acting. This seems to be o.k. with the Republicans, also
masquerading as a Congress. There is no Magnificent Seven to save this day. Only the townspeople.
7
@DC ...
No...The President has NOT become too powerful...He is actually exercising some of the powers that the Constitution gave him as far back as 1787.
If you don't like the way he is doing it, come up with a candidate that can actually win the election in November...
Sadly, it appears that you who hate Trump have wasted three years chasing williwaws scudding across your line of vision.
That's your problem, not mine.
This administration is disappointing and disturbing with this move to hire errand boys that only look to appease Trump. Mitch McConnell has enabled this to happen with others like Reps. Nunes and McCarthy. They are clearly cowards and motivated to only benefit themselves and their egos. Have fun cleaning up this mess.
5
Trumps orders to destroy our nation come from the top - Putin. Everyone who believes otherwise is a lackey who should be tried for treason when the real purge comes.
4
Not to fear.
trump's goons with guns supporters will surely save us.
Have faith in the murderers and criminals he's pardoned.
Bring on the Proud boys to save us. Ha.
All you republicans with guns better get to practicing.
You're going to need them when the Russians take over.
6
Sadly, I believe there’s nothing Trump would like more than for America to suffer another 9/11 type cataclysm. It would play perfectly into his authoritarian instincts and allow him to declare a national emergency, with a compliant GOP granting him unprecedented, quasi-dictatorial, powers. And obviously he has no reason to hinder Russian influence in his favor. It worked last time.
8
@Robert S
Oh, good heavens...You've gone off the deep end, again.
Where's your evidence of this coming apocalypse?
It would make for some entertaining reading. Post in the Times as an Op-Ed, I am sure the editors will publish it in a flash with great fanfare.
2
Sorry, but I can’t help a small smile at Russia helping Trump by....helping Sanders. That old Dewey-beats-Truman headline comes to mind. Underestimating candidate support- nothing new.
And since our Senate has signaled it’s ok to ask for foreign help in our elections....maybe a copy of...tax returns? Go Bernie. You don’t need Russia’s help, but hey, send in those Russian small donations - just label them....from Russia, with love.
2
It looks like one more nail in the coffin of intelligence work as well as another nail in the workings of democracy.
6
Of course this enables Russia even more latitude. Which Trump encourages so he can with Russian help win the election illegally.
6
Ms. Harmon is right, but the very things that bother her are the things that Donald Trump most wants. He hates expertise and accurate information, because they get in the way of his doing whatever he feels like, whenever he feels like it.
8
Any POTUS that disrupts the spy agencies is a hero in my book.The CIA has been rogue for at least fifty years. I would think my fellow leftists would cheer this news.
America has truly been turned upside down.
3
Grennell is a far right political hack who has no respect for European democracy and loves far right racist and anti Semitic European political parties. He is the prototype for all recent Trump appointees: dim, ignorant, and loyal not to this country but to Trump. Every day we get to see how mentally unfit Trump is, but his sycophants continue to do his bidding. Their goal is simple: protect Trump by getting rid of anyone with even a shred of knowledge about foreign policy or science or honest government and replace them with people who believe that Trump was given to us by God.
4
If there was a deep state out to get Trump, he’d be gone by now.
Perhaps the most toxic of his gaslighting tropes, our networks will take years to recover from this Stalinist (Putinist?) fealty approach to paranoia.
5
Looks more and more like a Dunning Kruger Cabinet headed up by a Russian asset controlled by modern day Czar. Vladimir Putin is, effectively, the President of the United States. That's what happens when you throw away that pesky Constitution and replace it with a white, male, christian patriarchy.
12
I was wondering when someone would make the association of Trumpists and the Dunning-Kruger effect. Thnx!
3
Trump is a dictator with a demand for loyalty from the
Acting xxx people he appoints. They act and do what the dictator demands. Very few endure; non are chosen for their experience in the field.
We are now truly a Banana republic.
Who is going to depose this man?
5
When as President of the United States you share a joke on Russian election meddling with a counterpart such as spymaster Vladimir Putin it is distressing to entertain the view that the leader of the free world could be one of Putin’s ‘useful idiots’ in the great game of spy versus spy and putting the United States security in great jeopardy.
5
Why should ANY part of the government escape civilian (political) control? These organizations only exist because the political process established them...
1
don't you find it interesting that the senate intelligence committee chairman Richard Burr and ranking member Mark Warner have not appeared together to express their concern about this pending appointment?
6
The Intelligence community has been compromised by 'other' influences over the last few administrations (both parties), we need a change, status quo lead to perpetual war and it's time for a radical change.
How many intelligence retreads will we see in the future.....sadly many and we will hold that administration accountable for a lack of vision in understanding that outside influences have affected this area.
1
"A so-called house clearing could damage our intelligence abilities for at least a generation."
Simultaneously, the broad spectrum of federal judge positions now going to Trump appointees will also severely impact the health of US democracy for at least that same generation to come, long after current POTUS has come and gone.
7
I grew up as a young lad in Jordan in the late 1950s to the late 1960s, the son of a US diplomat who might have had ties to a US intelligence agency (though I never knew it.) I understand the critical importance of valid, rational, non-politicized intelligence. It is part of my upbringing.
What the current administration is doing, the purging, the disregard for science, and the hatred for experts of any breed, coupled with the one factor that is required - unrelenting, blind adulation and loyalty to one person, not any institution (or document) - has scared me to no end.
The United States of America as we have known it, is morphing into something more like the authoritarian regimes we continue to disparage while our "leaders" idolize them.
Goodbye, US of A. You have had a good run.
20
Are we going to watch every last person, one at a time, who's taken an oath to give their life in service for this country, write an op-ed, and then sit back and wring their hands?
1
I was looking at the « careers » part of a corporate Web site, and they have a section where they explain that you must declare to them any political contributions you have made. Lincoln Financial Group. They say that they won’t hire you if they see that you have contributed to political groups that would harm their business interests.
They don’t say if that includes the DNC, Democratic National Committee.
Or Bernie Sanders folks.
I look at this and say to myself that this is not the nation I grew up in in the 1960s and 1980s.
This stuff with Trump, it is hitting at the root of the nation’s democratic freedoms.
8
When spy's cannot catch people who leak classified information to the press repeatedly, you have got to wonder what kind of spies they are? Or if they are in fact the sources of the leaks to push their agenda. Either case should concern you.
3
These patriot leakers would normally be considered whistle blowers but they cannot trust members of this corrupt admin. not to leak their identity.
2
Nonsense.
There is nothing in Grenell's record to suggest that he will undermone national security for partisan purposes.
There is ample evidence, in the Horowitz report in particular, that some housecleaning and reform is an absolute requirement.
Mishandling of information, intentional obfuscation and deception by senior IC officials, and falsification of court documents, and witholding exculpatory evidence are symptoms of a system pervaded by left wing partisanship, not professionalism.
The real professionals are embarassed by the conduct of the remnants of the former leadership and in favor of a clean sweep.
The DNI is a - civilian political - position, more an aggregator than an operational actor.
Stop all the mewling and handwringing; it's childish.
4
@Objectivist "There is nothing in Grenell's record to suggest that he will undermone national security for partisan purposes."
Really?
4
@cec ...
Go ahead and provide your evidence...
Or, shut up.
I prefer the first option, but the second is appropriate if you have nothing to back up your implication(s).
1
I am sure this is all very meaningful to Trump's backwoods enthusiasts.
2
Where are the Republican voices?
3
Your kidding, right, about Grenell making a "careful assessment of the intelligence community's capacities and impressive work"? Grenell was hired as a hit man to root out people who do not believe in our Dear Leader. Trump does not believe that anyone should question his absolute judgment about things he knows nothing about.
10
America is under attack by immigrants. Oh. And the media. Oh. And the intelligence committee. I’m starting to think National Security is not taken seriously from people on the right. Oh. Did I mention evil teleprompters?
4
An adversary wishing to do harm to America would be smart to choose NOW as the time to attack, now that Trump has hobbled and nearly destroyed State, Justice, and Intelligence. Expect that attack soon. And expect it to lead to everzmorezrepressive action by our now-unleashed dictator.
7
@Fairwitness
Perhaps, following "Art of War by Sun Tzu, which Putin doubtlessly knows well and practices, and DJT only wishes he did, the attack is already well advanced, the more successful for never being announced or declared, rather effected by US nationals against their own nation.
3
As Speaker Pelosi so correctly said, with this White House, all roads lead to the Kremlin.
.
American intelligence is now being deliberately blinded.
9
One solution. Vote blue no matter who.
9
Isn't the hollowing out of our government and appointing sycophants loyal to an incompetent narcissist exactly what an adversary would want?
7
He trashes our protection services, yet lavishes praise on Russia. You're okay with this, cops and bikers?
7
The current occupant of the Oval Office seems bent on destroying our nation in order to exalt himself. He is what would happen if Dr. Strangelove and Imelda Marcos had a love child.
Choose an area where our nation faces any kind of threat – war, allied cooperation, disease, climate change, poverty, racism, personal liberty – and you can depend on him to make the worst possible choices, both in policy and in people to implement those policies.
I suppose we should be thankful that those he chooses to lead the implementation are even more inept than him.
We should also remember we survived the insanity of a civil war and we can also survive this imbecile.
3
Where are the Republican Senators who were sure Trump learned his lesson? McConnell is hiding as he has not spoken a word to my knowledge. The Republican Party that always bragged how they were the party of security etc have become the party of liars and turncoats. It seems money is the Only thing that matters and the Trump/Putin party is as greedy as they come. The GOP is a Disgrace to all who built the party and made it respectable. We are now watching Trump Destroy The United States of America and he is being cheered on by people who have allowed their prejudices and greed to rule. Our once great Republic is being sold out by the Trump administration with help from the Republican Party!
God save the Republic!
4
Anyone with half a brain knows now how destructive Trump is in his narcissistic perspective, even the Republican Party. They had their chance to remove this man and cowered in the face of name calling. They all deserve to be thrown out in November starting with McConnell the other man whose aim is the destruction of the government in favor of a return to 19th century “money and corporate power running it all.”
5
It is amazing that mention and discussion of the systematic decimation of our intelligence agencies, the weakening of our long standing relationships with our allies and our fractured foreign policies in general are never addressed in the Democrat debates nor rarely confronted head on in the nonstop coverage of Trump's daily domestic coverage in the media. They should be explained in layman's terms for both his supporters and his opponents as clear existential threats to our democracy for decades and generations to come. This election should be regarded through a much greater lense. It is not just a reckoning of what is being destroyed from within by this administration but from what is also being destroyed from outside our national borders. Very real and imminent dangers with repercussions for our standing in the world and our potential transformation into an autocratic state must be part of a greater national conversation before the consequential election in November.
7
I'm not sure that the current climate in the Senate would allow this to work, but, it's time create a law that sets a time limit on temporary appointments to positions within the administration. Trump is using temporary appointments to sidestep the Senate's Advise and Consent role. It's another brick in the wall he's building to take complete control. It smacks of dictatorship, and it should be illegal.
6
Given the chaos of these past years and what we now know, why has there been no action on the part of Congress to require two changes ahead of the 2020 election that would require: 1) all candidates must submit their tax returns and 2) all candidates must submit to a full physical and full cognitive screening by an independent panel of physicians with the results made public. Anyone who does not participate can’t run.
6
As someone who has worked in Intelligence, I find Grenell’s appointment as Director of National Intelligence to be alarming. This post should be held by someone with significant experience in Intelligence and the ability to “speak truth to power”, both are qualities Grenell significantly lacks. This move puts America in far greater danger than it was in the run up to the War in Iraq and WMDs. I have seen, first hand, what happens when politics outweighs solid Intelligence work. And given what Grenell has accomplished in Germany (for those not paying attention, alienating a fair number of top people in Germany by repeating many of Trumps lies and debunked fantasies), I do not believe he can grow into the job.
427
@ASPruyn said "This post [Director of National Intelligence] should be held by someone with significant experience in Intelligence and the ability to “speak truth to power”, both are qualities Grenell significantly lacks."
Actually, the law that defines the position of Director of National Intelligence REQUIRES the DNI to have extensive intelligence experience.
Not only is Trump hollowing out the intelligence community, he is doing so by VIOLATING THE LAW.
You listening, Republicans? (Somehow, I doubt that they are, nor do they care.)
98
@ASPruyn But America was not in any particular danger during the "run up" to the war in Iraq. The terrorist attacks, even 9/11, did not represent any existential threat to the US. In fact our over response was a victory for the terrorists, who measure their worth by the size and power of their enemies. We handed them what they wanted on a silver platter. Come on, it is oxymoronic to call those agencies "intelligence agencies".
7
@ASPruyn ...You're making a lot of sense and have the experience to back your statements! Too many Trump supporting Americans unfortunately...may not listen ….too many seem oblivious to the Truth of the Trump Administration's Dysfunction! There isn't an over 80% turnover rate for nothing. Yet Trump goes on...with the support of his deluded followers and all enabling GOP !! Sad But True...our Democracy is struggling !!
11
Too many citizens are too busy staring at their phones to care. Thirty five percent of us have submitted our minds and souls to Donald Trump and will agree with anything he does. The near future is bleak. Will a winning majority Americans wake up by November? I doubt it. Voters get what they deserve. We voted for this.
4
Beyond all of the talented people to whom Trump has already given the boot, I suspect there are also many career intelligence professionals who are waiting and watching with the hope that the current nightmare will come to an end in November. If Trump remains in the White House, I think at that point you might see a rush to the exits, leaving our intelligence community even more hollowed out than it is now.
Trump no doubt admires the way authoritarian regimes use their intelligence agencies not to spy on the country's enemies, but to keep tabs on political dissent at home. If Trump is re-elected, I shudder to think of what is to come.
557
@JHM What will come about, with the help of Facebook and other social platforms is a full scale purge of dissenters. Anyone who has posted, liked, or endorsed any criticism of Trump will become enemies of the state. It is starting prior to the November election. Gulags, anyone?
44
Always ask "What would Putin want?" and you know exactly what Trump will do.
63
@JHM ...
Please, use your influence to encourage those of whom you speak to rush to the exits...
They are failing in their legal responsibilities to carry out the policies set by the President as authorized by the Constitution of the United States.
Anyone actively working to impede those polices can legitimately be accused of traitorous action.
4
"For the sake of our country, I hope Mr. Grenell makes a careful assessment of the intelligence community’s capacities and impressive workforce before making further changes."
Mr. Grenell will make a careful assessment of the intelligence community's capacities and workforce only to the degree Mr. Trump allows it and to the degree it serves Mr. Trump.
This is simply one more step down the path of dismantling everything that makes/made America great. America seems to be moving in the direction of some quasi-democratic country, similar to Putin's Russia and aligned with Putin's Russia.
Perhaps it's time to stop believing we're aligned with the West and its parlimentary democracies or its democratic republics and start believing we're aligned with the East's oligarchies and autocracies.
546
@Peter Hornbein said "Mr. Grenell will make a careful assessment of the intelligence community's capacities and workforce only to the degree Mr. Trump allows it and to the degree it serves Mr. Trump."
Given that Grenell has ZERO foreign intelligence experience, and no relevant training, he is NOT CAPABLE of making any meaningful assessment of anything in that sphere even if he was tasked to do so.
All he will do is make Donnie feel better by holding any "bad news" away from him.
But as Ms. Harman explains, if Congress does not have intelligence information, it is unable to do its jobs of legislation and oversight of the Executive branch.
53
@Joe From Boston
Good point. I am guilty of having assumed Mr. Grenell was even remotely qualified. I stand corrected.
19
@Peter Hornbein: this new alignment is less a matter of choice and American self-interest than it is driven by the fact that our president is a Russian asset and the GOP is too power-hungry (and cowardly) to stop it.
42
Trump is the supreme mole. His blackmailer/paymaster Putin is in the process of taking full charge of all U.S. intelligence and defense related matters. GOP is all on board with that.
10
What Trump is doing now on this and other fronts is exactly how strongmen and dictators consolidate power around them and feed their egos with information they want to hear and brook no contradiction to their beliefs. It is no wonder Trump admires Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin. He follows the path trod before by the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Idi Amin. Our own Politburo is forming. Our own secret police.
He, and his supporters, will ridicule your understanding of what is happening by saying its not that bad, he has not undertaken the worst actions that these despots are known for. The word unspoken is: yet. All of these tyrants had a beginning where it wasn't that bad. Piece by piece they unraveled norms, laws, and decency, unraveling a thread at a time the fabric of society until it was gone and people were left to ask, how did we get here?
Its the same old story repeated in mafioso crime syndicates and authoritarian regimes. Normalize bit by bit crimes against people, society, humanity so when it all done people were ready and willing to accept what they never thought they would accept. Co-opt others into the fold so that they can't resist or speak up without incriminating themselves.
We are not supposed to speak of this. We are supposed to concentrate on the issues. But to do so ignores the elephant in the room. The elephant that represents the party of despotism. We are doing its bidding by pretending its not there.
8
Sorry Jane, the real problem is people like you, who put party over the public or country for too long, the real danger to this country is the Republican and Democrats who work for the rich and not the people.
Hopefully all govt agency will collapse and maybe we can start over without either party.
1
The pattern has been developing since November 2016. Inexperienced and incompetent appointments are too inexperienced and incompetent to point out the lack of expertise and competence and intelligence in the White House.
5
As a matter of fact your intelligence community is not by a long shot "the most impressive in the world." Still as long as it is not believed banging the drum never hurt.
Why is this okay with us? Where's the outrage?
4
And this is why Putin wants Trump in office.
8
@Ann Voter
Best case scenario: his supreme incompetence.
Worst case scenario: he is working in Putin's interests.
Most likely scenario: he owes the Oligarchs (and therefore Putin) lots of money. He is supremely incompetent, after all.
6
Jane. I used to respect your views but this article is too much.
1) Trump “removes the acting” director. By definition Mcquire appointment was temporary. Maybe you should sure that
2) Patel sought to discredit the Russia investigation. No. He sought to tell the truth, which he did. Why don’t you share with the readers his list of statements about the flawed Russia theory against the IG report. Patel was stunningly accurate.
You may not like Grenell for other reasons but don’t make thing up.
1
Trump's demand to be surrounded by 'Yes-men', sycophants, is not only stupid, it is also dangerous. How brutish a measure, the firing of an honest and knowledgeable official, just by telling the truth, so to stop foreign interference in U.S. internal affairs. And loyalist Grenell is the worst possible replacement, however temporary, so that Trump's capricious vendetta can be carried out. Shameful. All so Putin may have free access to our electoral system, create havoc, and allow the current vulgar bully in-chief to re-assault the presidency this November. If so, this is a mockery of justice; indeed, a travesty of democracy.
2
@manfred marcus
"T" heard that Schiff was in the briefing and freaked. It's all about His Orangeness's benefit.
2
Any Republican that has a sense of honor has left government. That only leaves hair on fire non thinking fools serving only their own interests pretending to be Republicans.
3
It is sad that the CIA and other intelligence agencies have done so many really bad things over the decades, making it harder to leap to their defence today. Having said that, they get their marching orders from the executive an legislative branches, where the monitoring is supposed to function. That also is broken with the total corruption of the Senate, for example.
A clean sweep should not be further political influence over the intelligence agencies, but a moral reckoning so that the overthrow of other governments, killings of targeted villains, and most importantly, elimination of the terrible secret torture prisons and practices we have learned about, especially since 9/11.
To be elderly and continue to have so many of the things I had faith in about our country ruined is hard. For all the talk about character, it surely is missing in too many of our so-called leaders, starting at the top.
4
Deep state = people holding standards, principles, convictions above politics.
In the USSR there were political officers but their allegiance was to party; in Trump's case it's to himself.
1
NOBODY is allowed to lie to the American people.
Especially the elected officials shouldn’t be permitted to lie to the voters and dupe them with the false promises and inaccurate statements.
Who is supposed to verify whether the candidates intentionally lie to the public or are incapable of correctly comprehending the reality around them?
The free press?!
But those are just the corporations owned by somebody, thus controlled by the owners and solely charged with returning the profit on investment, meaning the journalists work for the owners, not for the citizens.
The partisan nature of the media outlets is more than obvious today and extremely instrumental in dividing and polarizing the public is pursuit of the ratings and profitability.
It means from now on our intelligence agencies should be in charge of protecting America and verifying the truthfulness of the statements of the future elected officials.
If we as a society allow the politicians to get into the Congress and the White House thanks to the lies, then they will not change their wrongful behavior even after being sworn in.
The liars cannot protect America. They must be stopped before getting elected.
That’s the job for our intelligence agencies!
Grenell joins the ranks of toadies like Barr and Pompeo who tell Trump only what he wants to hear. Putin has to be thrilled watching the US intelligence community being gutted. Sad days for the nation.
11
Senators belonging to the "party of national security" are letting Trump destroy out national security without so much as a peep of protest. It has become the Cult of Cowardice.
7
This presents a clear and present danger to our country, but once again the Republicans in Congress are too cowardly to raise even the slightest objection.
5
A paranoid president who constantly rails about a mythical and shadowy “deep state” conspiracy hollows out our government agencies by replacing seasoned professionals with his own inexperienced dopes and stooges. What happens when the next economic crisis, or war, or natural disaster hits? Remember the disastrous response to Katrina? "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
This is not going to end well.
8
I've worked with some of these intelligence folks, they are so paranoid that i start doubting their real value. They see fictional enemies everywhere, make horrible judgement calls and some of them are committed nativists.
Harman is one of the Democrats who supported the Iraq War. Take anything she says about the bonafides of the intelligence community with a pinch of salt.
You don’t defend this country when you advocate for military action against countries that pose no imminent threat to us. Instead, you weaken us.
3
@Xoxarle
She supported the war BASED ON REPORTS FROM POWELL & TENET INDICATING AN URGENT NEED
And then...she didn't....
Jane Harman - 1/16/2004
"There were good reasons to support regime change in Iraq - which was the policy of the Clinton Administration and was supported by an over-whelming vote in Congress in 1998. It is also true that Iraq violated 16 UN resolutions by failing to prove it had dismantled its WMD and continuing efforts to deceive UN inspectors.
But if 9/11 was a failure to connect the dots, it appears that the Intelligence Community, in the case of Iraq's WMD, connected the dots to the wrong conclusions. If our intelligence products had been better, I believe many policymakers, including me, would have had a far clearer picture of the sketchiness of our sources on Iraq's WMD programs, and our lack of certainty about Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities.
Let me add that policymakers-including members of Congress -- have a duty to ask tough questions, to probe the information being presented to them. We also have a duty to portray that information publicly as accurately as we can."
1
Once again trump has undermined our country and made us all less safe. All for his own self serving interests.
Richard Grenell is a political hack and has no business in this job, except to support trump’s corruption with Russia.
Vote my friends, trump is a traitor to the country and has to go.
5
Nobody that voted for trump is spooked. Not even a little in fact. The Presidents supporters believe every word he says and don’t care enough to see the ramifications of his actions. I wonder how all the intelligence people deal with this blasphemy? Do they just put their heads down at work, collect their checks and wait it out. Why aren’t there strikes or walkouts. Why aren’t their more individuals out here that Americans respect speaking out? The last Presidential debate was void of any of this intelligence crisis. Where is Al Gore? Where is Obama?
4
It is said that empires fall because they become decadent and die from within. A clear sign of that rot taking root is rule by imperious men too weak to handle expert advice that contradict their world views.
4
president trump is easily the most dangerous person our democracy has encountered since the revolution. I literally fear for our country's stability. What more can we do...stock up on canned goods and hope the republicans somehow grow a sense of urgency and responsibility? he needs to be impeached again, right away!
4
Intelligence is a threat to Trump. I mean that in all senses of the word. The kind of intelligence that the author refers to is a threat to Trump because it exposes the unscripted realities of the world, a world that Trump hasn’t studied and doesn’t understand. Trump prefers scripted “reality”, in which he is portrayed as the strong, capable hero, exclaiming “you’re fired” once a week.
Intelligent advisors threaten Trump because they know more than he does, and expose his flimsy beliefs and wacko conspiracy theories. Trump wants to be the smartest man in the room, which is impossible if he surrounds himself with intelligent men and women. In the early days he hired a few capable, intelligent advisors. That didn’t work out very well. He’s fired them all and replaced them with more compliant... (what’s another word for “dummies?)...people of middling intelligence and experience.
Lastly, Trump can’t abide intelligent voters, voters who are well-informed by effective news media. He prefers unthinking, obedient voters nurtured by a steady diet of Breitbart, Fox News and Trump rallies. As Trump has told his minions over and over, the media are “fake news”, he’ll feed them everything they need to know.
Trump is on a mission to stamp out intelligence. As the author points out, he’s having some success.
12
@John Ranta
At this stage of the process, compliant is another word for complicit. Thank you for a well thought out post.
2
Has any of those top spies concluded that our overthrow of the semi socialist governments in Iraq, Syria and Lybia and arming of the rebels actually helped creation and rise if the ISIS?
Are those spies in business if covering up the mistakes of the White House or informing the US citizens about the real threats to America?
The worst threat to us is our own stupidity and incompetence.
By the way, does anybody still remember that it was our intelligence apparatus that almost four decades ago armed and financed the Taliban in Afghanistan to kick the Russians out?
Do we remember that our government financed and enabled the spread of radical Saudi wahhabism after the WWII to stop the long overdue modernization of the Arab world?
3
The new McCarthy era formally begins.
2
Very dangerous for ourselves and our allies. The US intelligence agencies are more professional than at any other time in our history. Politicising some or all could leave us open to attacks on many fronts. This is the result of years of painting our own government as an evil "deep state" by the right and sometimes by the left. When many believe their government is evil, they believe that government is capable of anything. Hence, the ridiculous conspiracy theories: 9/11 was an inside job, the Clintons have had enemies killed, Pizzagate anyone? The worst result? A vicious con man in the white house.
Blue wave 2020 !
1
Make America Great Again.
The most ironic and dishonest campaign slogan ever.
It's turning out more like, Make America Mine.
5
Welcome to the new America where loyalty to Trump is the only experience needed.
2
Does this mean Russian interference in the 2020 election will be welcome but don’t let the public know about it?
3
Once again, this is liberal fantasy, masking as Russia news. Joseph Maguire said yesterday in an interview that he had no idea Russia was attempting to re-elect Trump. Those were his words, and not the imagined narrative of the press, and this author, who are fixated on this boogie man. Maguire was scheduled to transfer by early March, and the notion that something he said, but now says he did not even know about, is yet another blatant example of fake news. Ms. Harman and her press allies want to deny President Trump his constitutional right to govern, and are destroying the electorate’s faith in our intelligence agencies, not to mention the MSM if that’s what it takes to obstruct him.
1
What should spook our country is the attempted coup d’etat the spy agencies waged against a democratically elected President. What should spook our country is the subversion of democracy these agencies are trying to enable. What’s should spook our country is the fact the intelligence community is willing to destroy the Executive’s constitutional authority.
The intelligence agencies need to be relieved of command of the United States. They need to decimated right back to the Stone Age if they are willing to undermine our democracy.
The mask is off. They made their bed, they can sleep in it. I have no sympathy nor concern.
3
@Arthur Taylor "What should spook our country is the attempted coup d’etat the spy agencies waged against a democratically elected President."
When a "president" gives aid and comfort to our enemies (Russia, NK), publically asks Russia to interfere in our elections, abandons our allies, gives Russians state secrets while they are in our Oval office, and has secret a meeting with Putin and refuses to tell ANYONE what was discussed, it is entirely reasonable for our intelligence agencies to consider the possibility that Trump is compromised by Russia and needs to be investigated. Passing on that would be truly incompetent. Anyone questioning that should be considered mentally deficient.
Trump is on a roll for the GOP in breaking Big Government.
1
The new world of Trump has very simple criteria. Never, ever say anything that contradicts the boss. Intelligence is one of those specialties that requires real honesty, real objectivity and the use of real facts and evidence. Those are attributes that aren't even relevant to Trump. The ONLY thing he cares about is loyalty.
3
@AnObserver
"Never, ever say anything that contradicts the boss."
I still remember the Weather Bureau apologizing for contradicting the Boss. It would have been funny if it weren't so terrifying.
2
I wouldn't buy a used car from Richard Grenell, Trump only put him in place because he wants to use the intelligence apparatus against us, the citizens of the US and our elected representatives. He also seeks to insure no more damaging info about him and his murky past leaks out. If he doesn't have the NSA and CIA aimed at Deutsche Bank yet, it's only a question of time.
9
We were warned by our prominent and wise Framers that our enemy against the Republic and democratic system wouldn't come from outside but from within. POTUS has been ridiculing, compromising, and hacking our system for quite some time, first as a businessman and now as a public servant. GOP's "Party First, Country Last" policy and willful ignorance has put America in this situation. Note that Putin's enduring hold on power comes from his previous career as the top intelligence official and continuing influence on the Russian intelligence agencies. He rose to power while posturing as a reformer and flying the flag of anti-corruption. In the office, he purged his so-called "enemies of the people" and built a corrupt authoritarian government in his own image. Doesn't it sound familiar? Congress, beware. Grenell will NOT report to you in earnest but to Trump and use intelligence to serve his own and his boss's purpose, against America, his own government and people, if necessary, and will try to keep a permanent GOP majority in the Congress at all cost. America's long-held principle of "self-government" is jeopardy. IMO.
6
@Genevieve
Some may be fooled. Many are not. This is exactly what they want. They want someone who has been scamming the system just as they have been.
1
As Bill Maher recognized years ago, Trump is not on our side. It's unfortunate so many were so easily fooled, and have since proved their allegiance to the simpletons' viewpoint. His voters are profoundly impaired, and the rest of us can't let them make any important decisions for us.
9
This is an emergency. It requires the intervention of intelligence agencies and other government agencies. I understand this is difficult but the responsibility falls on them. This is time sensitive.
Such agencies must publicly release any and all information they have regarding this criminal and traitorous "president ". We, as citizens, have a right to know.
Failure to do so demonstrates incompetence, at best, and complicity, at worst.
4
Thank goodness!
I feel much safer with our intelligence community crippled and relegated to irrelevancy.
It is sad how nobody in the IC nor in the media will ever mention that the country got on fine for about 175 years without any foreign intelligence service or intelligence community.
2
Just imagine how many more would’ve died in WWII if the IC (yes the Brits) had not solved the German communication code for the Uboats. Solzhenitsyn warned long ago not underestimate authoritarian forces. Our enemies are constantly at work to destabilize the West. They would pounce in an instant if we left the door unlocked. The IC has its flaws -as do our police. But just imagine life without either in place.
3
I really don’t hold the intelligence community in high regard. They’ve lied us into numerous wars, overthrown democratically elected governments and installed brutal dictators, have tortured and committed other crimes against humanity and have spied on and threatened people in this country for exercising their constitutional rights. So please, this outpouring of love and affection for these guys is bizarre and , frankly, undeserved.
4
Our institutions may not be perfect. Nothing and no one is perfect. However, we've never had a reason to believe our intelligence agencies are working Against our national interests and our security. On the other hand, trump's allegiances are highly suspect, and we have the right to know exactly who our president is.
4
@FXQ And yet they are really needed. The intelligence institutions need to be cleaned up so we can rely on them again, if ever we could. And cleaning up does not mean appointing a bunch of political toadies. In the State Dept., too, the honest professionals should be kept and respected while the people who would destroy the professionalism of these departments need to be defeated at the polls.
1
@Lorna
I would be very cautious rushing to the defense of the intelligence services. They are extremely powerful institutions that have very limited oversight and accountability. They have led this country down disastrous paths numerous times and are documented chronic liars. Be very weary. They are not to be trusted.
This is how dictatorships run, put "yes" men everywhere, lose sight of reality, get deposed by a coup or other force, rinse and repeat. This is why it is so important to have independent branches of government with equal powers, not an all powerful executive branch and a senate rubber stamping his every wish and protecting him from removal when it was clearly due.
5
Good morning world. This is what the slow collapse of a functioning democracy looks like over a 30 year period. Trump is simply the icing on the cake. Obama and Clinton were stops along the way.
But the American Republican Party has been a thorn in the side of the advancement of planet earth since Reagan. It all began with cutting taxes for the rich and corporations. But the seamy underbelly of the pure greed that has slowly fully taken over the Republican Party has now fully collapsed democratic norms.
The United States has kicked open the door to a White Nationalist Oligarchical Autocracy. Elections can no longer be trusted. The Republican Party is an arm of the most blatantly corrupt President in the country's history. These people are interested in full consumerism above and beyond everything else. Trump is the master consumer, with nary a thought of the consequences this consumption.
Americans have always had a problem with standing up and fighting for freedom in the modern era. We are fat cats. Most of us. And the oligarchs keep us well fed enough that we simply don't care if democracy collapses. And we barely care if mother earth collapses. As long as we can buy potato chips.
5
Trump has zero interest in the long-term wellbeing of this country. His only motivation is his own greed and insecurity. He thinks that being President means the whole country serves him. So pointing out the long-term consequences of this rot misses the basic point that the decisions come from someone who doesn’t care. Maybe better to explain how it could affect the things that matter to Trump. For example, would doing the right thing would make him richer or make beautiful women like him more or make it so that he was more popular?
3
Let's just change the official motto, "In God we Trust," to "in Trump we trust". And maybe add the phrase "la-la-la-la-la" to portraits the founders on U.S. currency, revised to show them with their fingers in their ears. Or maybe better yet, just replace everybody with a portrait of Trump. With a hat.
Oh, and while we're at it, should also probably change that obsolete "e pluribus unum" ("from many, one") motto to "ignorantia sit beatitudo" ("ignorance is bliss")
3
When you build an intelligence agency based on whether the President likes what they tell him the country is in trouble. It is obvious and it has been repeated, that Trump is a narcissist. Narcissism in no minor thing; it is recognized as a personality disorder characterized by pathological lying and delusions of grandeur. Trump is mentally ill, and he only wants to hear from people who will tell him how great he is. Look at climate change, look and the justice department, look at the intelligence agencies. It is way past time for the Republican Senators and indeed all Trump supporters to wake up to the problem. The man is not mentally all there.
7
Worse that mere politicization of the intelligence services, putting a die hard loyalist like Grenell at the top creates the risk of using the vast intelligence resources to actively pursue trump's own objectives- personal enemies, whims, etc.- instead of focusing on protecting our country at all.
4
Our intelligence agencies failed to understand that the endless state of war is the worst national security threat to America.
They only had 75 years to come up with the correct conclusion.
I am sure the intelligence community knew this for a long time.
For some reason they failed to speak the truth to the power and tell the presidents they are on the wrong path.
If only the agencies told the truth to the American people...
32
@Kenan Porobic I don't think you can blame the intelligence community for the endless state of war that has been around since the end of WW II. They provide information, what people do with it is another story. I don't get the "correct conclusion," idea at all. The world is a complicated place, and we need to know what's going on whenever and wherever we can with objectivity. Good intelligence kept the Cuban Missile Crisis from becoming WW III. However, politicizing intelligence brought us to where we are in the Middle East. When Cheney and Bush II simply did not believe that there were no WMD in Iraq in spite of the intelligence (US and International), and promoted a fiction that brought us into a war that is still not finished. Although I'm sure that Cheney and company have made many millions from it by now. Funny about how that worked out. Can't wait to see where Grenell will be taking us. I believe he's the guy who praised the right wing extremists in Germany -- like the guy who shot up a couple of restaurants last week.
40
@Joe
Why do we fight the longest wars in our history in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Let’s go to the very beginning - the Arab world from 1946. Were they heading toward the completely atheist system like Stalin’s USSR or some kind of social democracy like Sweden?
If the latter was more probable course we shouldn’t have done anything.
The White House concluded we must help the Saudi Kingdom spread their extremely radical Wahhabism across the region.
The alternative were the strong regional semi-socialist regimes in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Libya.
In the early eighties our government armed and financed the Taliban in Afghanistan to kick the Russians out. That’s how the conservative ideology gained a stronghold in Kabul.
However, the real cradle of ideology behind the Al Qaeda was the Saudi Wahhabism.
After the 9/11 attacks, we invaded Afghanistan, a non-Arab country, as if the Afghan people were responsible for the actions of the Sunni Arab terrorists.
We even dethroned the semi-socialist governments in Baghdad, Damascus and Tripoli. We armed the rebels and created the lawless regions that were used for the rise and spread of the ISIS.
Based on what kind of intelligence data the White House concluded that destruction of the semi-socialist governments would help eradicate the Al Qaeda and the ISIS?!
Can anybody explain to us the thought process behind such a strategy?
Were the intelligence agencies supportive of it?
5
@Kenan Porobic
The intelligence community can't be blamed for the Iraq War. They had correct assessments but it was pointedly ignored.
By nature of their work, they can't speak directly to the American public, they report to the political leaders. Its up to them to make decisions.
20
Yes, we know all of this. We also know Trump is spreading disinformation to Americans in the same way that the Russians did in 2020. The democratic institutions are crumbling. What do we do to stop it? That is the opinion piece we are looking for.
16
I'd like to see a huge protest march where marchers encircled the White House with their backs toward it. That would be a photo for the history books and a bookend to the upcoming election.
2
What we need is someone at the IRS to leak Trump’s tax returns so that we can see where his true interests lie. This would not be necessary if he had just released them like every other president since Watergate. Five years of returns should be a minimum requirement to run. We cannot have a President who cheats their country.
11
@LizziemaeF Never, ever!!
Mr. Grenell's greatest virtue seems to be that he is that he is one of Trump's fluffers. Is this REALLY the most qualified individual for this position?
It looks to me, at this time, that Trump will cruise to an easy victory in November. Just imagine the chaos and mischief that Trump can manufacture in the most widely watched reality TV show on the planet.
2
This guy thinks we can replace diplomacy with the internet and thinks that our diplomatic missions should be more like chambers of commerce. Good luck with "speaking truth to power."
7
"For the sake of our country, I hope Mr. Grenell makes a careful assessment of the intelligence community’s capacities and impressive work force before making further changes."
To the author, I would say that that "hope" has sailed. Trump places people who will not dissent. Trump strives to root out all "never trumpers" (these are folks who exhibit independent thought). Grenell will do exactly as Trump wishes. The only possible reversal of this will happen in Nov.
30
@Steve November is months away. By that time, the transition to an autocracy may be so far along that a new president cannot be inaugurated. Our nation has become so tolerant, that citizens are silent as the Constitution is ignored.
12
The national security of the United States is of no concern to Donald Trump and members of the Republican Party.
They care only about their own electoral security.
42
@Robbiesimon: Who will invade a nation with three guns for every man capable of being taught to shoot?
Notice the other day Trump was reportedly 'gleeful' when he learned of Russian meddling in Bernie's campaign. Of course he was. Putin is pushing Bernie in the primaries because he thinks it's Trump's best bet. Then, in the general, Russia swings behind Donald. The Russian meddling is Trump's ace in the hole. If he loses the election, he can continue to deny any Russian influence on his behalf, but point to the Bernie boost in the primary. Election flawed: case closed. Don decides to appoint himself president for life. Hey, why stop there? How about General of the Armies (six stars) too?
21
Six stars, and two scoops of ice cream.
2
@PJTramdack: Putin watched the USSR dissolve. He knows how it can happen here.
3
I have much respect and admiration for the Congresswoman, but I think it’s dangerous to put the current administration’s behavior in the same category as ANYTHING that has happened in this country before.
I agree, in many ways the Bush administration made more mistakes than most, but trying to draw parallels between Bush’s somewhat misguided policy and personnel decisions with Trump’s raw criminality only normalizes his behavior.
The Bush administration’s mistakes were mostly honest mistakes or at least an argument could be made they were doing what they thought was best for the country. Trump makes decisions based off how the result will impact Trump.
I think of a GOP operative who said before the 2016 election that over the years Democrats have thrown around the word racist so often that they’ve devalued the meaning and now that there’s an actual racist close to the Oval Office 1/3 of the country is desensitized.
22
@Allen J. The US, by any measure, is better under Trump than "W" or Obama!
2
I recall, as a retired USAF officer, the last decade or so of the Cole War and the yearly distribution to all the air bases of a Pentagon publication called "Soviet Military Power" or something close to that. Nowadays, we don't even have this kind of thing to keep our government on the straight and narrow. All we have is a wannabe dictator and his careerism-oriented appointees. These are dangerous days for our country.
17
I too remember the publication, it was produced by the defense intelligence agency. I hate to break it to you, but it never kept our government on the straight and narrow. Any more so than do the current set of annual publications issued by DIA and other organizations.
2
The job of the intelligence agencies is to protect America at all cost.
Donald Trump got elected based on his assertion that he is a brilliant businessman.
If his tax returns indicate that he as the businessman was a failure that mishandled the corporations he was in charge of by bankrupting them, then our intelligence agencies would be responsible for not informing the American public about this vital information.
Running a chronic trillion dollar revenue shortage per year would be a shortcut to bankrupting any corporation, wouldnt it?
37
@Kenan Porobic You did not need the foreign intelligence services to tell you what any New Yorker could and did tell the nation about Trump.
The Republican Party has been floating this idea that a businessman can run the nation better for at least forty years. Thus far, Trump has been a big nothing burger, living off the work of other Presidents’ administrations and the other Party for three years. Now the obvious appointments he’s made by fiat to undermine the workings and agencies of Government has come around to Intelligence and suddenly even Republicans are frightened.
The media never look at candidates’ backgrounds, that is, their actual lived lives with any “intelligence.” With respect to Trump there was never anything there except destruction of others and self aggrandizement. Looking at Sanders what you see are years in the Congress touting liberal ideas but not so much in the way of actual legislation; Warren does way better on this front; Biden is a nice guy, gets along with people but also has a thinnish legislative portfolio, Klobuchar is better on this front and Buttigieg hasn’t been in long enough.
But none of this matters because the American public ultimately votes by gut and charisma. The down ballot votes in the Congress count more than most people think and a Republican Senate is death to the Constitution no matter the winner.
9
@Kenan Porobic We don't need his tax returns. Although I live in Florida, I AM a New Yorker. We always knew that he was a failed businessman. How do you bankrupt 2 casinos? He had 6 bankruptcy but he said that was fake news. New Yorkers always wondered where he got his money from. Also the old money people snubbed him not because he was new money but because of his personality. They do not seek publicity but that is all Trump does, he cheats, be belittles, he bullies, always has and will do the same until the day he dies. He knows nothing and doesn't want to know anything.
1
I retired not long ago from the US intelligence community after a 44-year career. I remember vividly 9/11, and the political consequences of what was termed the IC’s “failure of imagination.” The subsequent creation of what intelligence professionals saw as a superfluous layer of bureaucracy headed by a “director of national intelligence” was, unbeknownst to the general public, a debacle that was widely resented and quietly resisted.
Since the naming of Mr. Grenell to be acting DNI, I have spoken with about a dozen of my former colleagues who are still employed at CIA, State Department, and NSA. They are all veterans, having started their careers at roughly the same time (Carter administration) that I did. To a person, they are thrilled at the prospect that the DNI may be weakened and its powers diluted.
The reason is simple: creation of that additional layer of bureaucracy 16 years ago has done nothing but impede the work of the intelligence community. The DNI has issued protocols that have weakened the analysis of the communities individual components; the result is pablum that once lead Mr. Obama to declare that he preferred the New York Times over the President’s Daily Brief. And intelligence sharing? There has been precious little improvement, as originating agencies create new, restricted compartments at will.
There is much more but I am running out of space. There is most certainly another side to this story, and hopefully one day it will be told in full.
21
@David H Thank you for your first hand observations. You make very good points. What I fear though is that instead of doing a well informed, non-biased assessment of the issues such as you state, Grennell's focus will be on what is best for Trump and not the nation.
37
@David H
First of all, thank you for your years of service, and for putting into easy-to-understand language what the possible consequences are of Trump's upcoming purge of our world class intelligence community.
I've tried to keep track of his various outrages, but the news media doesn't have the time or space to keep us up-to-date on all of them. If and when our country's voters actually succeed in "purging" this madman, I'm very worried about whether all the good and sensible things he's trashed can be recovered.
15
There will be no purge. That is an invention of the media and political opponents of Mr. Trump designed to score political points. And, I assure you, that is not how do US government operates, regardless of who was sitting in the oval office.
3
The Constitution gives the majority of the oversight of the Intelligence agencies to the Executive Branch. And the National Security Act of 1947 only requires that the Executive only need inform select members of the Senate and Congress. Any extra Constitutional Agencies created that do not follow this protocol and/or hierarchy are illegal and subject to the whims of the Executive.
1
@Russian Bot
No, the Constitution does not give the executive branch any oversight of Intelligence agencies.
Its not even mentioned in the Constitution.
Home schooled and/or religious fundamentalist?
When you start with nonsense, there is no other out come possible.
3
@Fred Armstrong
The Constitution gives the Executive Branch power over National Security and Foreign Affairs. Oversight of Intelligence Agencies is shared by the Executive and the Legislative branches. However, Congress has over the years affirmed that the Executive has the lead role and it can, and HAS, limited Congress' influence on National Security and Intelligence.
What are they teaching you up there in Seattle?
1
Mr. Grenell will make a careful assessment of how the intelligence agencies can carry out their sole mission, loyalty to Donald Trump and promotion of his re-election.
61
Telling the truth and faithfully representing reality to the President and to Congress is now grounds for dismissal from a government post in Trumpworld. Even if it's truth directly related to the national security. The new DNI's chief assignment will be to shade the truth to make it more palatable to his boss, even if it's truth directly related to the national security.
No way will the Republicans in the Senate allow this to continue. Right?
27
Trump does not believe in truth-seekers -- he rejects scientific findings just as he rejects the findings of our intelligence agencies. If Grenell wants to remain in Trump's good graces he, too, will reject the truth. It is naive to believe that an inexperienced partisan will champion the career officials in the intelligence community.
Republicans who enable Trump want to retain their political power. But this is at the expense of our national security. And this is not simply limited to the health and integrity of our intelligence agencies. The distortion of reality by this administration is evident in its denial of problems such as climate change, the availability of health care, growing economic disparity, the public health crisis of gun violence, the dumbing down of education, just to name a few.
The only way to save ourselves is to get rid of these charlatans come November.
60
Grenell was despised in Germany praising the far right both in speeches and in actions.
" Diplomat" is a misnomer.
The clear winners with his rise to the head of America's intelligence agencies are trump and Putin.
45
Wonderful piece and happy to read it... but since Mrs. Harman is a former Democrat and this piece is in the NYT, it is unfair and should not be considered.
At this point, only opinions from loyalists in valid media outlets will be deemed to be fair and subsequently considered for approval.
7
@Dean. I'd be chuckling if it weren't in reality so scary.
3
@Dean
Mister Grenell will thank you for that fine pseudonym, Dean, not realizing that the joke is on him.
What if those who would destroy us are the Senate Majority and the Trump administration? Is the intelligence community prepared for an attack from within? Mr Grinell is exactly what he appears to be.
27
The attack that you refer to is not going to materialize. There are civil service regulations in place that protect intelligence analysts. And believe me, I know from decades of experience there are ways of averting political pressures from above to tailor analysis to a particular viewpoint.
1
@David H - "civil service regulations"!! Really? Really?! You think those are going to stop the Dear Leader? If he fires someone exactly what will stop him? The courts? The Senate? Impeachment? Will the DoJ move to stop him? I think that ship sailed long ago.
2
I have the impression that most commenters do not accept that the goal of any political party is to get power and keep it, and that good government means (to invoke political theorists of 2500 years ago) to help your friends and harm your enemies.
But isn't it plain by now that Trump and McConnell have no higher calling than to keep power and use it to get more power? Nothing else matters. If there are voices in government that believe the US has "values" and should express them in foreign policy, those voices must be shut up. If there are voices that believe anything is more important than Trump's reelection and Republican control of all three branches, they must be silenced. Equal justice for all? Human rights?
These guys have a clear goal. Everything they do makes sense once you see that it's all about power and nothing but. And if the Constitution gets in the way --- well, that's an easy call.
Ask yourself - are you certain, really certain, that that Trump will accept the results and docilely hand over power if he loses November?
25
Real political parties are self organized groups of like minded people pursuing common interests. The US two party system is an institutional fossil.
4
@Steve There is no way Trump will accept the election result if he loses.
1
Trump and his supporters don't care about any of this. To them, it is just a big bureaucracy of wasted money. Better to use the money to buy the votes of farmers than to know what is happening in the world.
22
"For the sake of our country, I hope ..."
Anyone who thinks there is the slightest of chances that Trump and his cronies will do anything for the sake of our country are fooling themselves. Hold onto to hope if it makes you feel better, but there is no evidence for it.
29
This might be a good occasion to question the validity of the position of director of national intelligence. Siphoning the views of more than a dozen intelligence agencies into the voice of one person was always a bad idea, since the synthesis could always be corrupted by personal bias. Far better in my mind is to have a triumvirate of top intelligence officials to speak to the President with a divergent set of opinions. Of course, that would assume there is a capable enough President at the other end of the conversation.
12
At the top level, analysis creates a matrix of probabilities from multiple sources.
3
This current Administration does not respect expertise, knowledge nor history. Their goal is to substitute many demanding positions with the inept and inexperienced as well as turn a blind eye toward facts and replace them with loyalists. What could possibly go wrong?
This makes any precarious situations nearly impossible if not fatal. This scenario leads to a house of cards that will result in total failure in this dangerous and fragile world.
13
How can this Grenell person make a “careful assessment when he doesn’t have any idea of what he is supposed to be heading ? Didn’t Mr. Grenell once work for someone accused by the U.S. of corruption and actually stood by this person ?
Hmmm, acting Intelligence Director ?
15
And so the great American experiment crumbles.
I have no doubt the native peoples are quietly rejoicing.
8
Where is George W. Bush? Why has he disappeared? If wold do what he needs to do, this opinion piece would not need to be written.
This country elected two people from this first family named Bush to be President. George is a nice enough guy, but he needs to stand up and mount a full throated attack on this Administration. HIS FATHER WOULD HAVE DONE SO, SO WOULD HAVE HIS MOTHER. IN FACT THEY BOTH ACTUALLY DID.
W, you need to step up. Your party, fearful of election losses, refuses to stand up to Trump. But since you are not running for election, you can and should.
We are not in an era when prior Presidents can keep quiet. We are not in an era we have seen before.
As a member of the "first family" you need to speak up and do so loudly. Let Trump attack you, but fear not, because you don't have to pander to voters, you have the greatest liberty one could receive: a hugely powerful and loud voice in our political arena, free from any fear of consequences from the "Dictator in Chief" Donald Trump.
Its take a voice, one loud voice to get this process going, and other Republican's may rediscover their spines and speak truth to power.
24
@T Mo
It is difficult to understand why you would hope for anything of this nature from GW Bush. He is a retired frat boy who never knew what was going on. I doubt anyone would pay any attention to what he says or thinks. Even thoughtful and intelligent former presidents are ignored, so it would be necessary for many with great influence to make the case.
1
Pro publica reports that Grenell secretly lobbied for a Moldovan pol accused of corruption, in violation of the same law that sent Manafort to jail. Trump and his appointees couldn’t get a security clearance in an administration that was dedicated to the national interest as it is to one man.
13
Trump’s logic seems to be: Why does the US need the National Security Council and other intelligence agencies when he could rely on Putin and the Russian spy agencies - Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), whose agents were charged in 2018 by the Justice Department for the 2016 election hack; the Federal Security Service (FSB); and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) - for "information"?
Trump is on his way to transform the US into the 23rd republic of the Russian Federation, and sees the intelligence community at home as “deep state.” Dismantling them may well be the right thing to do - heeding the advice of Putin, his puppeteer.
10
One result of the purge, will be an unbridled new propaganda machine, generating alternative facts, geared to exhalt Trump and denigrate his enemies. Especially in the run up to November. A second result will be there will be no one to see (or at least accurately and truthfully) get out any reporting about what the foreign and domestic right wing interference in the electoral process will be. The GOP created a monster - unclear in intentionally or not - by essentially telling (and in Dershowitz' words, expressly) that Trump (and by extension, his cronies) can do whatever they want to get Trump and the GOP reelected.
11
This is what happens when we elect a compromised bankrupt and a criminal con-artist to the Presidency. It's simply incredible. Congress has to act. Trump is once again abusing his power in putting these political sycophants in charge of important agencies when they haven't even been confirmed by a Republican-controlled Senate or had a single hearing. He's cheating again, and we will all suffer for it, unless the Pelosi-led House acts on this because we already know that McConnell will roll over and submit, I guess until the entire country goes into open revolt.
9
Donald Trump is systemically removing anyone who could know and tell us about his lies and the illegal deals he seeks to make behind the scenes for his own electoral and financial benefit.
When our nation is attacked again as we were in the 2016 election, if our nation is attacked again as we were on 9/11, next time we will be told a narrative by the Trump administration that no credible source will be left able to verify or disprove if they even dared speak of it.
And why would they if there is no separation of powers left to do anything about it, our Republican Senate willing to cover up their president's misdeeds, a stolen Supreme Court seat plus another who owes the fact he even still has a career to Trump.
We may be facing a global pandemic with Coronavirus. Were it to happen it would cause a global recession. This in the middle of the 2020 election where Trump has already sprung into action as a Russian asset generating false accusations about Putin's interference.
After 9/11 I remember Republicans breathing a sigh of relief that we had a Republican at the helm. George W. Bush seems a bastion of truth and judgment compared to Donald J. Trump. At least Bush had a world willing to come to our aid.
Trotting random unqualified political operatives through high-ranking intelligence positions without Senate confirmation is dangerous on its face. But then, somehow Grenell is not random to Trump, who believes he has the qualifications for the job he's actually there for.
10
It’s become very clear that the core mission of the intelligence “community” is to amass power for itself. Period. These people aren’t elected. They operate in the shadows, and now they are trying to interfere in OUR election by accusing ever candidate they don’t like of being a Russian pawn. Disband the CIA. Disband the NSC. Thank you for your services. They are no longer required.
@Greg
Right, why believe career diplomats who have been successfully performing their jobs for years and years, gaining the respect and trust of multiple political power scenarios left and right, over someone completely new to the job who was just elected by naive citizens like Greg? Should we elect doctors next? Scientists?
It is so chilling to think there are people who would actually believe that kind of nonsense, and are so short sighted (worse? blind?) to propose that kind of beyond-nonsensical solution. Time to put on your thinking cap.
2
Each and every Republican enabler of Trump in Congress is morally responsible for this damage to the nation’s intelligence network. Each and every last one of them. Put Mitch McConnell’s name at the top of the list, but don’t leave a single Republican name off of it. For the record, History should also record the names of Trump’s cronies, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sheldon Adelson, and oh so many others. Never Forget.
9
Amazing how Trump whined and complained about Hunter Biden being unqualified for a private board job, yet he appoints an unqualified DNI, unarguably one of the most important jobs in 21st Century America. Based on Germany's public assessment he was unqualified for the Ambassadorship to Germany.
The sad thing is Trump had few experts willing to work for him. Most of them have now left and we are dealing with D-listers helping to run the Country. We need a new administration now to bring experts back into government who work for us and not just show fealty to a president.
13
Any hope of moderation in the trump regime, or that the GOP pols who now genuflect and kiss trump's ring will somehow regain their senses and begin to engage in anything like oversight, or even reasoned behavior, is in vain.
trump has railed on about the 'deep state' ever since he was elected. He is, in fact, now establishing his own deep state, where in seasoned professionals are replaced by inexperienced radical conservative hacks who, in their capacities as 'acting heads' of agencies, are purging anyone insufficiently loyal to the orange overlord.
Facts are replaced by 'alternate facts'. Expertise is replaced by sycophancy. Science is replaced by willful ignorance and pseudo religious piety. Some worry that trump is ushering in an American Third Reich. History suggests he may actually be instituting a new Dark Age.
8
The office was destroyed when it was used as a political tool by Brennan and Clapper. Their open attack on their President was the death of their office. It is now a zombie. It is no longer even welcome at the White House.
That isn't just Trump. No President will be able to trust these guys now.
Worse, after the Iraq War fiasco, we should never have been trusting them as we have.
The intelligence community committed suicide. We need something else. Urgently.
3
@Mark Thomason -- Obviously President Trump will never welcome nor trust any of them.
But consider a President Sanders. Consider the center-right policy preferences of the intelligence community, that have urged all the wars, all the deals, everything in foreign policy that Sanders opposes.
Sanders would be reckless to trust these people. They'll sabotage his policy, at least. They'll sabotage him, very likely, since now they seem to feel quite empowered to do so.
They might be trusted by a moderate Republican, but nobody else. We are not going to elect a moderate Republican for a long time to come. Hence, changes are needed.
@Mark Thomason The intell leading to the Iraq debacle was accurate until the neocon hawks in the Bush administration got a hold on it. People with in depth knowledge of bioweapons labs, and centrifuge technology, and yellow cake uranium, etc. knew the rationale for war propagated by Bush, Condi Rice, General Powell and others was nonsense. What is deeply disconcerting is that there weren't more patriots like Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, who sacrificed their careers to expose the truth rather than remain silent in the rush to war.
1
@John -- Indeed, that is my point. We need intel, and we do have some available, but our system to use it has been corrupted and broken by political use and misuse.
Ms Harmon supported the Iraq war and Bush’s mass wiretapping. After two painful betrayals of the public trust - she’s shocked that the citizenry turns a cold shoulder to its community of spies.
Why doesn’t she connect those dots here?
1
“A so-called house clearing could damage our intelligence abilities for at least a generation. Recruitment and retention will of course plummet, and those officers and analysts left won’t have the mentorship or the experience to ensure our assessments are based on truth.”
We have a sitting US President who doesn’t want to retain the US government’s capacity to develop intelligence assessments based on truth. Rather, he wants the intelligence apparatus to focus exclusively on protecting and amplifying his political propaganda efforts.
This is almost certainly due to a core characteristic of Trump’s sociopathy: His brain isn’t structurally capable of understanding concepts like “truth” and “lies.” In their places are the concepts of “good for me” (Trump) and “bad for me,” respectively.
What could possibly go wrong?
10
Our intelligence services already are politicized by the NSC. On Sunday’s morning news shows, the head of the NSC repeatedly denied that Russia is invading our country to get Trump elected in November. He misstated the truth and simultaneously said Russia is backing “Bernie”. While it’s true about Russia supporting “Bernie” because they think he’s beatable by Trump, it’s a bald faced lie to claim Trump isn’t the Kremlin’s pick.
It will only get worse. We can expect false intelligence created by Russia and the politicized intelligence sources in the US to discredit whoever is Trump’s opponent. Literally the US government is now a campaign arm of the Trump regime.
The only solution is for overwhelming victory in November, followed by prosecution of the Trump regime traitors so that they are punished for seeking to destroy our government and shred the Constitution and the rule of law. Nothing less will suffice.
7
@Demosthenes The Russians have a long history of very clever smart chess masters spreading creditable disinformation, aided by social media freedoms. Deep knowledge of history, and the right buttons to press. Putin is probably the cleverest world leader for some time and it shows! Good luck with an eviscerated CIA and other branches...
1
Hmm. And if Congress cannot obtain accurate and complete intelligence information, it will be impossible for them to do their job overseeing the Executive branch of our government. Convenient, eh?
The move to put a lackey in the top intelligence job came immediately after the oaf-in-office flipped out that Rep. Schiff was present during the briefing about Russia helping to re-elect him. I don’t think the ripple effects of the OAF’s decision was even a slight concern to him; all he cares about is keeping his tail in that chair.
4
The intelligence community did such a wonderful job of predicting the downfall of the Soviet Union, 911, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, etc. Maybe it’s time for a shakeup.
1
Trump’s only concern is having a strong DTI, Director of Trump Intelligence, a person who will put defense of Trump in front of everything. The important threats are those imperiling a Trump re-election. Trump has never trusted any intelligence organization or ally believing he is the smartest person with superior gut instincts. To Trump, all of those people are there to undercut him. To many Americans, none of this matters as long as they feel their guns are safe, no foreigners will be allowed into the country and all regulations will be thrown away.
7
Trump's message to his minions is clear: Kill, discredit or minimize any information that may show he got help or is getting help...in 2016 or in 2020. As such, he is willing to put the safety and security of the nation at by undermining the efforts of our intelligence officials. It is akin to treason in my opinion. To have hard evidence that Russia or some other foreign entity is meddling in our elections and then discredit it is shameful...But for Trump, ever worried about the legitimacy of his election will do anything, say anything......very sad and dangerous path.
4
Does Harman really believe there was no top spy job before her?
Did she invent the spying?
Did she create a position that advised the White House to arm the rebels in Syria so they could later morph into the ISIS?
Did she fail to understand the risk associated with export of the US industrial base and manufacturing to China?
Did she fail to understand the risk of the endless reckless borrowing and the colossal national debt?
Whose job is it anyway?
1
Whoever is in charge of our intelligence apparatus should be instantly fired.
He or she failed to understand and inform America that our overthrow of the semi socialist governments in Syria and Lybia and arming of the local rebels actually helped create the ISIS.
The duty of the intelligence agencies is to recognize and define the future threats, not to locate some nerd teenager in some Moscow basement blogging about the American elections on our social media...
I don't foresee 'the better angels' of our intelligence services -- or those of (former?) allies who are 'listening in' -- to do, or be able to do much in favor of our security while our services are led by Richard Grenell, the nearly singularly focused, and otherwise 'inexperienced,' trump-avenging 'dark angel' with a B.A. from Evangel "University" (whatever that is).
P.S. Who did he have to 'please' -- and how -- to get into The Kennedy School at Harvard with that undergraduate reference?
1
The entities that are out to destroy the US are enemies that asinine US policies and US colonialism created. Then there is the normal how can we influence or better yet manipulate Country X.
Seriously, Obama should have fired everyone in the intelligence agencies after the Bush#2 disaster. The whole lot were morally bankrupt and were willing to lie to further their agenda as well as Bush's. How many of those deplorable people still hold an Intelligence job?
I get that we need to spy on everyone because every country is protecting their own. But the US intelligence did permanent damage to the US and any future Intelligence staff under Bush#2 and some extent Obama. This is real life, not some killer spy vs spy vs spy Hollywood thriller.
1
This is part of a bigger picture.
Trump has become a full-fledged corrupt dictator, and the GOP is supporting him.
Trump’s extreme narcissism presents an imminent danger to America and to the world. The GOP caters to Trump’s every whim.
Trump has betrayed our National Security by repeatedly and consistently aiding a foreign power, Russia. The GOP has become the Gang of Putin.
Trump sees enemies among immigrants, refugees, minorities, the Press, our government agencies, and our Allies. The GOP has endorsed all of this.
We need to get rid of Trump and his GOP apologists.
Vote Blue, no matter who!
7
For starters, Congress has to tighten the rules about "acting" appointments. They should only be permitted if Congress is not in session, and then with a 30 day cap. Now the administration is littered with unqualified people. This appointment, and the havoc likely to follow, does not pass the stink test. And, like so many other poor appointments, the personnel changes are for the wrong reasons. We can't wait until January to fix this. Trump is totally unleashed, and the fallout is and will be horrendous to our country. Congress must do their job and get control of this. Today would be fine!
11
Trump and his henchmen truly believe that there is such a thing as a deep state that is out to get them. The deep state is only a product of their severe paranoia created by their total incompetence and constant malfeasance. These people really do believe that the president has absolute power. Trump cannot be restrained by these pesky laws and agencies of oversight. Any restraint is then proof of the existence of the deep state.
This is the danger of re-electing Trump. Since he beat the Mueller Report and impeachment, he is totally emboldened and unrestrained. We plainly see what he is doing. He is installing a battery of political lackeys, who are totally loyal to him, in positions of high responsibility, whose job it is to protect the nation from both internal and external threats. By doing so, Trump has now made himself an internal threat.
William Barr is Trump's personal attorney. That is obvious. Now he wants all the heads of intelligence to also shield him from the reach of the law.
Trump is making himself all powerful by making him above the law. He hasn't changed the law. He is just getting all of law enforcement to give him a pass. Isn't this how organized crime takes over a community? Or a country?
8
I just hope that the actual intelligence professionals don't tell Trump or any of the other traitors around him anything more classified than the correct time.
5
Trump was hired to take a wrecking ball to the system, by those whom the system has ignored. The problem here is that often children don't understand why or what, just that someone either says "no" or is unresponsive.
News articles saying "Trump was upset" are reminiscent of living in an abusive household. Daddy is mad ? What ?
Unfortunately, his know-nothing base won't understand what is happening or why, just that "Trump should be happy".
Now that the Senate GOP has rolled, it is up to the voters to vote Blue in the next election, if you still care about the Republic.
7
It's all true. This is what happens when you live in a country that is focused on football, fast food delivery to your door, and endless deceit delivered by Jared Kushner and Mark Zuckerberg in defense of "free speech."
The bray of the ignorant that "it's just politics" will rule the day.
7
@george eliot
It was a systematic and careful dismantling of our educational system that made it possible for the ignorant to rule. From the top down.
1
Maybe if the best we can do is the continued illegal spying on our own citizens, then destroying it and starting over sounds like an excellent choice to me. #Libertarian
What trump is doing is leaving the backdoor unlocked and making sure no one's in the (our) house so his Russian benefactor can slip in and rob it (the election) for him once again.
He then "strongly" denies, blames (insert country here____________), he and Putin then divvy up the goods.
4
The core mission of the intelligence community it to provide actionable intelligence to the President and Congress, not to “speak truth to power”. Hartman sounds like an agent of the Deep State.
“How dangerous it would be if we lose the tip of the spear against those who would destroy us.”
Those who would destroy us now come from within, not from without.
3
We can repair this if we elect enough Democrats in November to win the White House and flip the gavels in the Senate. If Mr. Trump and Mr. McConnell still hold the reins after November, they will have more years in which to throw acid on the executive branch. They want a government small enough that there are no watchers for their corruption.
Vote blue. Tsunami blue.
3
It could be Trump is deliberately hollowing out these Intelligence resources so when the chickens come home to roost, and we find our country under terrorist attack, he can consolidate his regime, unleash the dogs of war, and stay in power long after his defeat at the ballot box.
4
This is purely political and all about controlling the narrative for Trump's re-election. Trump is literally rewriting history:
*Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election to help him get elected - Ukraine did.
*Russia is not interfering again to get him re-elected.
*The FBI started the illegal Russia probe based on the "discredited" dossier.
*The revelations of Russia probe were manufactured by the Deep State and false.
*Everyone who has pointed to Trump's corruption is a criminal and will be removed, if not jailed.
*Everyone, EVERYONE, who opposes Trump is lying. Only he is telling the truth
*He knows better than the Intelligence community, diplomats, scientists, the military, world leaders, etc...about everything.
Make America great again: Dump Trump.
10
1. Is it really the "top spy job?" Seems to me that in 2004 a career politician just "created" another top-heavy career bureaucracy because the already existing umpteen career bureaucracies were totally dysfunctional
2. I thought the other guy, O'Brien, had to leave anyways?
3. What makes her think this admittedly temporary employee will "purge?"
4. What it would be important for this temporary appointee to do is to get to the bottom of things like the recent leak from the Schiff Committee (presumably by or with his approval) that it now appears was totally erroneous (according to another article in today's NYT)
5. The new second in command is not a guy who "sought to discredit the Russia inquiry." He is the guy who wrote the analysis that first illustrated that the Russian inquiry was a total and complete hoax, something that it later took Horowitz two years and millions of dollars to confirm
DJT thinks of himself as a "hands on" guy. He's more comfortable channeling all aspects of government through the oval office. He's seen what happens when sprawling government agencies are helmed by people who know more than he does. The only intelligence DJT needs is provided by Fox News. What could go wrong?
6
Every dictatorship starts with a purge.
Next up, political opponents and members of the press being dead and disappeared — in the name of preserving democracy.
Trump is learning fast from his lord and master, Putin.
9
1. Is it really the "top spy job?" Seems to me a career politician just "created" another top-heavy bureaucracy because the already existing umpteen bureaucracies were totally dysfunctional
2. I thought the other guy, O'Brien, had to leave anyways?
3. What makes her think this admittedly temporary employee will "purge?"
4. What it would be important for this temporary appointee to do is to get to the bottom of things like the recent leak from the Schiff Committee (presumably by or with his approval) that it now appears was totally erroneous (according to another article in today's NYT)
5. The new second in command is not a guy who "sought to discredit the Russia inquiry." He is the guy who wrote the analysis that first illustrated that the Russian inquiry was a total and complete hoax, something that it later took Horowitz two years and millions of dollars to confirm
Unfortunately, Trump sees himself as the state's most important person. In fact, he increasingly sees himself, and all his personal interests, as the embodiment of the state. He has been given all the running room he wants by congressional Republicans, and now demands absolute loyalty to himself.
But taking a step back, Trump is mostly afraid his malfeasance will be found out. He hates 'snitches' like Vindman and do-gooders like Comey, McCabe, Brennan, and Maguire. He hates the festering investigations that result, and particularly the tarnish to his image and the threat to his ego.
Based on 'business' experience more akin to that of a third rate mob boss, not to mention his hyper-vindictiveness, Trump has to destroy any who cross him while terrorizing the rest. His senior staff once provided guardrails, but now toadies like Nunes, Barr and Grennel are the enforcers.
Trump is ignorant and incurious about the workings of our government. Rather than get advice from senior subject experts, he prefers Fox, Hannity, Javanka, donors, and the Mar-a-Lago crowd. He clearly doesn't care if he hollows out our State Dept and intelligence services for a generation.
An unrestrained Trump intends to clean house and remake the government in his own corrupt image. The question is, can someone replace him this November. And then how long will it take to undo the damage.
6
Ms. Harman is admittedly a Democratic establishment player; she is merely polishing her progressive bona fides by blasting something the Trump administration has done, much like Sally Yates did, to the cheers of the left.
This article would have been more meaningful had it come from a Republican or independent source. As is, it's merely a vanity publication.
Trump has consistently vilified our national intelligence agencies because he sees them as outside of his control. He has solved that pesky problem by ousting McGuire and installing a Trump loyalist as acting director. Our paranoid narcissistic commander in chief believes some mythical deep state is out to destroy him and he will destroy our national security protections to mitigate this deep-seated obsession. His gain. Our loss. Business as usual.
Putin was the former head of the FSB, Russia’s secretive security agency. Putin does not tolerate dissent. An Ex-FSB officer who criticized Putin was poisoned in London and has been branded a traitor in Russia. Opponents of Putin, including journalists, have mysteriously disappeared. The FSB is conducting information warfare in accordance with Putin’s wishes.
Trump declares the free press to be the enemy of the people and purveyors of fake news out to get him. He spins his lies and carries out his propagandist agenda. He now controls the Senate, the Supreme Court and the intelligence agencies. Do you doubt he would not order a perceived deep stater to be harmed? Do you doubt it can’t happen here in the good old USA, home of the intimidated and the bullied. We should all be very afraid. Information will be withheld that is perceived harmful to 45. That can only harm all of us.
5
Our intelligence apparatus has been TOTALLY DISFUNCTIONAL over the last 75 years.
Is it really so hard to understand that the endless state of war in Korea, Vietnam, Indochina, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lybia and the rest of the Middle East wasn't in the best national interest.
There is $23 trillion national debt as the ultimate witness and the proof of the aforementioned statement.
Do the intelligence agencies work for the politicians or America?
Whom does belong their loyalty?
Should not they speak the truth directly to us?
During his first term, Putin played a democrat. It was in the beginning of his second term that he started removing the old guard and placing his KGB friends in ALL key positions. By the end of his second term, the remaining democratic institutions in Russia were either destroyed or made completely subservient.
4
I fear this appointment may be too little too late in light of the last Administration's politicization of State, Intelligence, DOJ, EPA and IRS and the political contribution extremes exhibited by our 'sainted' civil servants. At some point in a retooling project the question that needs to confronted is:"Do we try to repair the damage, or just clear the deck and start over!" There's no such thing as neutrality in the 'swamp'.
So we can be pretty sure Grenell will make it happen. Meanwhile, the hysterical coverage of a potential Democrat nominee with dismantle our "entire economic structure" will keep bleating about deficits and paying for things.
But, it's the suburban and country club "moderate Republicans" who are fine with dismantling our entire government. So long as their 401k balances are up.
I wonder what they say when the Dow drops back to 16,000 due to a coronavirus meltdown. I'm sure it will be the fault of the Democratic House, Adam Schiff or Nancy Pelosi.
8
Sounds like the Agency’s under control of the Executive needs to be more independent. Yes, let whomever is president select a director, but the Agency’s missions and the demands of the president should be separate ... the directors should not be allowed to skew the Agency’s missions to suit the political ambitions and ideology of a sitting president.
2
This is exactly what Trump did to the Department of Justice when he appointed Barr. The Pentagon will be next. What is truly frightening is that Republicans in Congress who understand what is going on are too cowardly to speak up. The real danger of having political hacks run the most important agencies is that we will be completely unprepared in a real crisis. We now know that the next most likely crisis is a 2019-nCoV pandemic. From past experience we know that Trump and his hacks will treat it as a PR problem that could hurt his re-election prospects. In response they will implement policies that will worsen the crisis. Alex Azar who heads HHS which includes the agencies that would fight the disease has made it clear that his highest policy priority is throwing poor people off the health insurance roles and destroying the affordable care act. Brace yourself for the true impact of an authoritarian presidency run by the political cronies of an unstable president.
35
@JS I think by November there will be a ban on large public gatherings in urban areas, assuming the election as a whole is not 'postponed'
5
@JS
Trump is lucky he hasn't had to really be president during his term, ie handle a financial meltdown like banks or auto, go to war or a terrorist attack. other than a weak response to puerto rico all he's really done is made himself cozy. karma is just around the corner, I think
1
“...I hope Mr. Grenell makes a careful assessment of the intelligence community’s capacities and impressive work force before making further changes.”.
I would not make any wager that Grenell would make a careful assessment of the agency he now heads as it is quite obvious he will be nothing more than a Trump baggage carrier-nothing more and with Trump’s disdain for the FBI and intelligence gatherers Grenell may be inclined to keep the mercurial Trump pleased.
We can only hope that our partners in intelligence gathering will find someone in the “deep state”, or unofficial channels to provide early warnings of threats given that Trump and his toadies have effectively neutered our own intelligence services beginning with the National Security Council.
Yup. Drain the swamp. The government is broken. Previous administrations were failures, particularly the most recent. Yet Trump is on a crusade to destroy what we the people have relied on for years to protect us.
14
The past few years have made it clear that the agency was long gone before Mr. Trump's appointment of Grenell. Let us hope he can restore a sense of actual objectivity and depth.
1
@Len
Gutting our intelligence agencies is not going to "restore" anything.
Do not confuse chaos with action.
7
@Robert FL Having a people working in the agencies that are not at all onboard with the President, who are in fact working to undermine him, is a deep problem which needs addressing. Whether you like it or not, Mr. Trump is our president, and those agencies need to be reliable, not infected with bias.
1
@Len When you go out of your way to appoint someone who will only tell you what you want to hear, you're not going to get objectivity or depth.
3
I'd love to ask one question: Where were these wonderful, talented (and important) people on 9/11? I'd love to hear some answers...
2
@Michael My read of 9/11's history is that our intelligence community did in fact generate guesses about what was to come. The problems were two-fold: (a) the lack of communication between agencies that possessed the intel, including the CIA and FBI, and (b) the relative inexperience and naivete of Condoleeza Rice, who downplayed information that was part of regular reports.
23
@Mark Please add to this that the Bush administration ignored the Clinton administration's warning that terrorism was going to be their biggest problem. They wanted to build missiles to protect us from the military industrial complex running out of contracts.
10
And to build on what Mark notes, by having a Director of National Intelligence position, which the biographical note beneath the title notes was created in 2004, in response to 9/11, the intent was that newly stovepiped intel from agencies that were perhaps now sharing more with one another but may nevertheless have independent or even proprietary assessments would be related to the president by a non ideological expert with requisite qualifications, with the president's then able to probe further and engage directly with any of the 17 individual agencies.
Better than to look backward at 9/11 is to imagine we are on 9/10 and not grow complacent about how desperately we need honest intelligence assessments to flow to an honorable, attentive and judicious executive branch right now.
4
"While our intelligence community is the most impressive in the world.." I wonder how she knows and whether it is true. Still, I'm sure that such statements must make domestic readers feel better.
4
@G Rayns
Whether in London England or London Ontario, you can be forgiven for not understanding that American everything is "the most" "impressive" in the world.
And Jane Harman can be forgiven for talking like politicians talk and writing the piece, perhaps, in a bit of a hurry - everything is so urgent now.
At least she knows more than I do and has served her country, so I say "let's listen up."
1
And then consider what’s on the menu for the next 4 years. I have a feeling most people in this country still don’t realize how serious the situation really is.
70
Might be a nice time to see, or re-see, Anton Corbijn's film adaptation of leCarre's novel "A MOST WANTED MAN"
- not just for the thought-provoking content but for the truly brilliant performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman.
A little off-point from the direct concerns expressed here, but the arts do shake the brain barnacles loose sometimes.
6
The "purging" is truly frightening. Even more alarming is the reporting of the efforts of Groundswell (Clarence Thomas's wife) to identify individuals who are perceived as not loyal enough.
58
There use to be a time when Cabinet members and high level government officials were hired for their expertise and Loyalty to the country.
Under trump, it's loyalty to him alone.
The LAST thing America needs is an authoritarian king. They all need to go.
77
@Lalo Sadly, that may be the last thing we get....
1
It is doubtful that officials with any talent would even want to work for Trump. Add in the fact that Trump chooses officials on the basis of their personal loyalty to him rather than competence and you wind up with a national security issue.
39
@Clark Landrum "It is doubtful that officials with any talent would even want to work for Trump.”.
All doubt has been removed. And possibly soon the oath of appointment will remove any reference to the Constitution and be replaced by “loyal, obedient and subservient to Dear Leader, President Trump”.
3
Authoritarian leaders tend to be control freaks--and their behavior provides a glimpse into what's wrong with their choices. It's about getting their way--not what's good for the community. The fundamental need to control all aspects of the law, along with the military, economy, education and culture is typical.
One of their tools is installing loyalists in positions of enormous importance, such as a head of intelligence agencies, and judges. So here is a case of the inept and unqualified (other than by age) appointing someone else inexperienced and inappropriate to a position of extraordinary significance.
Since our Congress failed to respond fully and carefully to the high level assault on our institutions and Constitution, they have enabled the executive branch in its insidious consolidation of power.
In short, we're experiencing a non-violent putsch; and there is a willingness on the part of many to expose our country to a significant level of violent and non-violent attacks.
We cannot leave our heads in the sand; we need to be sure our representatives understand, acknowledge and act on the danger we're in.
71
@JayGee
Ain't gonna happen.
We've reached the political tipping point
right along with climate change.
Liberal democracy, along with coastal habitats, are done
get used to it. Too many people.Not enough time.
5
@mark brownstone
It may, indeed, be too little too late. But perhaps that should also focus our sense of purpose in confronting, rather than turning away from the dangers.
5
@JayGee
It was a slow motion coup until the Senate sent the signal that everything is permitted. We are now seeing a high speed coup come into play. November is nine months away and there is no telling what will be left of our government by then. Since there are no laws functioning any more there is way to stop Trump from cancelling the election due to a national emergency which he can call at any time. These extraordinary powers have been granted to the presidency years ago but never used. Since such a postponement of the election is actually legal under emergency conditions there is nothing the Congress or the Court can do about it. Not that they would want to. It takes a village to steal power.
Her claim that the core mission of the intelligence community is "to speak truth to power" is rather odd and misguided; it also reveals quite a bit about the author's political philosophy.
4
@Michael
Retired Representative Jane Harman's "political philosphy" has nothing to do with speaking "truth to power" & certainly isn't "odd". It is telling the truth to powerful people who don't want to hear the truth.
For example, people who spoke "truth to power" about Iraq having so-called "weapons of mass destruction" turned out to be right, & had we listened to them many thousands of lives might not have been lost, & the world might be a very different place.
Learning the truth and then speaking it loudly & forcefully is one of the most important & essential components of a democratic society.
32
@Michael
The Director of National Intelligence is a role that reports directly to the President of the United States on a daily basis to present to him the view of the 17 individual intelligence agencies.
This came about not only in the aftermath of 9/11 but after Dick Cheney went over and cherry-picked an intelligence assessment about going to war in Iraq, chipping away caveats and concerns to push as a slam-dunk an agenda his neo-con circle had held since before the attacks.
The point was that with a DNI reporting directly to the President, and with the intelligence agencies themselves staffed by, if you like, a "deep state" that operated independently of political ideologues like Cheney and co., the most powerful office in the country would get the most direct overview.
As such, yes, it was intended to speak the truth about intelligence assessments to the power of the presidency.
To the extent Jane Harmon reveals her political philosophy it is her expectation that this nation would only wittingly elect a president after 9/11 who would want and could handle such intelligence briefings. A suddenly quaint idea I share with her.
39
Just curious... I wonder what is Trump's employee number in the Russian government.
He's obviously working harder for them than the US, enabling them to undermine our elections, create distrust in our institutions (government and otherwise), lead us to not trust our own neighbors and potentially lead to violence within our own borders.
So when is the ceremony for Trump to handover the keys to the White House to Putin?
47
@Tired of Complacency
That's obvious . Trump is definitely number 2.
3
Surprise? Isn’t this what Trump voters want?
At least Trump and his satellites think that they are empowered by the voters to do whatever they, I mean the voters and Trump et al, feel good about; just like joy they squeeze from Reality Show. It’s on through November this year.
4
@Josh
Let's cancel this poor imitation of government.
There is no question that are intelligence agencies are about to change, because the guy in charge has no intelligence.
Trump's base has to see that he's destroying our government every day that he's in office.
If this isn't what a foreign power (Putin) would want to see the USA losing it's world power status so that it can have more control, then I don't know what we have to do to stop it.
Nov. 3, 2020.
32
Trump’s base couldn’t care less if he is destroying the US government as we used to know it.
Maybe when they lose social network services and their unemployment rates rise;
maybe when agricultural farms cannot operate or harvest crops because no white Americans will take those jobs;
maybe when little towns in those rural areas lose their shops and schools (and their younger generations); and so on...
Perhaps they will grasp the damage they have wrought on the nation — hollowing out the executive branch; neutralizing any independent judiciary; and isolating America from former allies (but not Russia) —
but by then it may be too late to save democracy here.
1
We should be celebrating that an openly gay man can achieve such an important rank in the intelligence wing of the government let alone under a Republican president.
Politics should not supersede history.
7
@CNNNNC What is God's name does being gay, or female or anything like this have to do with our national security and what Trump is doing to it? Obviously ones sexual orientation, gender, or religion ought not to be an impediment to high government office but it must not be our measure of eligibility and your suggestion that we should be celebrating is truly inappropriate.
5
Well, one might have cause to celebrate if he was in fact qualified for the job.
3
@CNNNNC
You would be correct if he had any experience of knowledge of the intelligence community but he does not and it seems his only qualification is he is loyal and strong supporter of trump. That alone should scare you.
4
Too bad Ms. Harman did not write about this topic when it mattered - when John Brennan and James Clapper were destroying the credibility of the various agencies with phony ill-considered FISA applications and, to use the words of Mr. Clapper "not wittingly" spying on Americans.
The Russians must be laughing at the way everybody in the Media runs with any story suggesting interference with US elections.
The Russians don't need to actually do it. It has reached the stage that they (or "sources" on their behalf) just have to SUGGEST that they've done it. The Media will do the rest, because they can be counted upon to refrain from fact-checking, such is their appetite to be first with the "story" even though it's not really a story, just the suggestion of one.
8
@Sunny 4 Life You're correct. The Russians needn't rig our election(s). They have plenty of our own citizens to do that.
Like you.
2
@Sunny 4 Life
Media shouldn't scrutinize the "Great Leader's" choices?
"Russia, if you're listening..."
1
Angered that the intelligence community again has sounded an alarm of Russian efforts to reelect him, Trump fired acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, and replaced him with Richard Grenell.
Mr. Grenell "has virtually no intelligence experience and is viewed as very partisan." Partisanship, defined as loyalty to Trump, is his critical qualification.
This move to turn the national intelligence community into a Trump loyalty cult is being carried out by Trump, but the party responsible is the Republican Party.
Americans must not overlook the fact that Trump does as he wishes, acts on whims, carries out purges and vendettas, solely because Republicans in Congress do as Trump wishes.
Republicans in Congress have neutered the Legislative Branch, rewritten Article I of the Constitution to delete oversight responsibilities and reinterpreted the role of Congress as the Rubber Stamp of Trumpism.
Republicans can get away with elevating Trump to Supreme Dictator because Americans vote them into office. Americans do that because Fox tells them that's what they should do, Facebook spreads lies undermining facts and truth, and Twitter gives the Supreme Dictator the ability to put cross-hairs on the backs of those who speaks out against him or his Republican sycophants.
We no longer need a professional national intelligence community. The Supreme Dictator decides who our enemies are (Canada, Mexico, the EU) and who our friends are (Russia, North Korea, Turkey).
58
@JABarry You forgot Saudi Arabia & Brazil. They have wonderful leaders too, like MBS and Bolsonaro. And how about India with its great leader Modi.
2
Aside from very few pundits why is no one sounding the alarm on what this administration is doing? We are sliding into autocracy while the government is summarily being hollowed out.
Does the Democratic leadership have anything to say? How about using this as campaign fodder? Get with it people or our democracy is over! And the likes of trump and mcconnell are the reason. How low we have fallen.
17
And what are you willing to do? You look to “leaders” for the answers but we have all become so complacent that they no longer fear us.
You have described a number of issues critically important for national as well as global security-types, levels and qualities-
briefly explained some of the potential implications and
posted a warning to... This is also an “invitation” to do more
than BEcome aware. Care. And turn the page. Read another article.
BEcome aware. Again. More so... Less than...
A caveat, not listened too, transmuted into BEginnings of
effective actions, alone and with others, is
but another mantrafying moment. Meant to BE so, or not.
The intelligence communities must figure out what the smart thing to do is. They are universally patriotic and people of action. They must find a way to purge our system of Russian and other oligarchic influences. They are now our last bastion of hope, along with voters that must turn out in record numbers.
9
If Donald Trump had the slightest interest in appointing anyone to make a careful assessment of the intelligence community’s capacities and impressive work force he presumably would have done so well before now. However, it could not be more evident that Trump’s desire is to muzzle any narrative contrary to his narcissistic obsessions.
Believing Republicans have any interest in stopping Trump, whether in the Federalist Society stacked courts or the McConnell stacked Senate, is simply wishful thinking. At this point, only the general election can stop Trump’s paranoid delusions from ravaging the U.S. intelligence services.
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@D. Smith
You are absolutely right. But I fear the general elections and the cursed electoral college are rigged beyond repair.
Thus begins the slide into 21st century Fascism.
2
What the intelligence agencies have done,( besides spying on the citizens of this country) is to overthrow democratic governments in South America and put in dictators friendly to American businesses. They make money on drug cartels everywhere. They report false information like nuclear weapons for the sake of war for profit. What country is our enemy? Who wants war with the country that has more military then the rest of the world combined? As for the big "Russian threat" in elections, why would they get involved?
Seriously our two choices in the last election were both horrible, they are watching us destroy ourselves as we allow the Congress of today to cater to the NRA and other Super Pac groups. Why would they try to get a republican elected anyway what would be the advantage to them? Think people think about what you know and don't want to look at.
2
@Jan LLoyd actually, Hillary Clinton was probably the most qualified presidential candidate of my lifetime. The fact that you consider her unqualified says a lot more about you and your media sources then it says about Hillary Clinton.
1
@Jan LLoyd Comparing Trump and Clinton as being equally horrible is ludicrous.Out country would be in much better shape had Hillary Clinton won the electoral college vote. She may not be a perfect person by any means, but I have never seen anyone as bad as Trump. he is malicious, destructive, more dishonest than anyone I have ever witnessed, corrupt, selfish, vindictive, authoritarian, ruthless and proudly ignorant and incompetent. He is a cancer and our institutions have not protected us from him. It is up to us to vote him, and the republican senate, out of office. That is, if they haven't already rigged the vote count?
1
Looks like our homeland is mimicking a television show with that name. Life imitates art all too often. Strange, almost quantum effect, seems like.
5
It is the merest hint of hope that Mr. Grenell will do anything other than cravenly bow to his patron. Grenell, like all the others now in place, mostly as "actings," have been chosen precisely for their personal loyalty. There is no room in the exclusive monomaniacal loyalty equation, of any kind and in any other form, to anything or anyone else, including our nation and its intelligence community. We can hope only that the community doesn't become an arm of the Trump business organization.
4
The next time the House gets around to impeaching Trump—probably early in his next term—one of the first items on the bill of impeachment should be his refusal to follow constitutional process on appointments. No more unaccountable-to-congress, "Acting," secretaries, intelligence officials, etc.
While we are at it, there ought to be lawsuits in which new policies of U.S. cabinet departments are overturned by the courts, unless the agencies are properly headed by confirmed secretaries and officials. Let the doctrine be that "Acting" officials can administer existing policy, but not change it.
49
There have been many threats lately to cut our allies out of intelligence sharing if they won’t toe the Trump party line to stop using Huawei equipment in their 5G cellular networks during our trade war with China. There have also been instances of Trump casually divulging intelligence to Russian officials, misusing intelligence information to further his domestic agenda, publicly denigrating our intelligence agencies when they report on Russian interference in our elections and removing NSC staff from listening to his phone calls with foreign leaders. Now we have the appointment of Grenell to the position of DNI to act just like any other Trump politically appointed cabinet officials to wage war on the professional staff in the agencies that they ostensibly manage but in actual fact are tasked to destroy.
Why would any foreign intelligence agency want to share their information with us under those circumstances? Why would they want to further the autocratic agenda of Donald Trump? Why would our intelligence agencies want to report their information to such a president knowing that it will be at best ignored even if he can be troubled to listen to it (they know he doesn’t actually read anything) or at worst that they will be punished for having the temerity to tell him the truth when it differs from the conspiracy theories that he prefers?
We expect professionalism, patriotism and devotion to duty from our intelligence agencies. Why don’t we ask as much of Donald Trump?
34
Regardless of fault or reason, we are at the point of impending governmental destruction. We are being set up for world wide Russian interference and Trump with the help of Barr, the GOP and foreigners will win if we don't see the need to vote. Trump now controls all of the seriously critical areas of our government with malice, anger and vengeance. They can do much more damage if they keep the WH for another 4 years.
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@Paul Raffeld
Really? The WH is trying to keep China's 5G implementor Huawei from seeing all signal communications, and you do not consider that a threat? But Trump's corrupt effort of saving America from Joe Biden you consider an existential threat? I think the arguments lack intelligence. It's normal for American politicians to routinely try to get usable dirt on all of their opponents. Same goes for law offices around the land, they are as good as their private detectives. And the lawyers are officers of the court, no less.
@LHP If dirt gathering is what you want, you got it in abundance. One of the problems is the source of the dirt. Are you saying that the source is irrelevant?
3
@Paul Raffeld
By letting down our guard and blinding the intelligence agencies Trump makes it easier for an actual attack to succeed on US soil. The common wisdom is that the approval rating of the president immediately goes up after he rallies the country against a common enemy. Bush W. had the highest ratings of his administration after 9/11 when he stood on the rubble with cleanup workers and vowed vengeance on those who attacked us. If such an attack happens later this year before the elections Trump could be a beloved national hero on election day. The more he cripples his own intelligence agencies the more possible he makes this ultimate scenario. So Trump is signaling the void to come and do the deed and we all know that Putin is listening.
1
Your concerns are being heard by approximately 52% of the voters. The rest will be blindly led wherever Trump chooses to lead them. This is more concerning to many of us than who takes over for Director of National Intelligence. The 52% fear as Nancy Pelosi has said, "With Trump, all roads seem to lead to Russia." Putin will get his way.
49
"For the sake of the Country" alarms have been rung literally from day one for this administration, yet nothing of substance happens; seems before the gravity of an unprecedented act is surpassed by a more outlandish act. From the official unbiased Mueller report on Russia collusion, only to be covered up by Barr - no accountability. To the GOP sham impeachment process, again no accountability. So, to assume Grenell intends a careful assessment is a fantasy. Our only hope at this point are the career professionals guarding the country against politicizing the intelligence.
The fear being instilled by Trump's vindictive behavior is being ignored by the Republicans in congress. They are complicit to this corruption and deserve to be voted out, the lot of them!
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@Gunslinger
Vindictive behavior? Vindictive AND malicious, uninformed, unreflective, egotistic, dishonest, corrupt, scheming, simplistic, unscrupulous, entitled, spoiled, power hungry, gluttonous, tax evading, charity robbing, nepotistic, greedy, intolerant, racist, bigoted, careless AND lazy as all get out.
But you've got it right. I'm just elaborating what is being willfully missed by House & Senate Republicans, and every voter that supported this villainy.
4
I don't understand what everyone is so worried about vis-a-vis the appointment of Richard Grennell as acting director of national intelligence.
First, we won't have to worry about the Senate wasting precious time confirming him, because he'll continue to escape scrutiny as he carries the title of "acting" director indefinitely and is never nominated for the director position.
Second, by definition it's impossible to descend from the nadir, so it's obvious that appointing a person with zero intelligence experience to one of the most critical intelligence posts in our government can't be worse than the situation we already have.
Third, if thousands of American lives are lost in a future September 11-type attack, we needn't worry, because Republican gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc. will always keep the Democrats from taking control of the White House and the Senate in the future, ensuring that whichever Republican president is responsible for the catastrophe will never be called into meaningful account, just like when George W. Bush had the top job.
So I, for one, am going to sleep very well at night. Sweet dreams, all.
26
@ALB
The great jazz pianist/songwriter Mose Allison had a number entitled "I Don't Worry 'Bout a thing "Cause I Know Nothing's Gonna Be All Right".
Look it up.
1
if the intelligence community (such a strange word to use about spies) is truly worried then we should be hearing soon enough some truly compromising things about Trump. If we don't then the spooks aren't really all that spooked, they feel like they still have control.
8
While our intelligence community is the most impressive in the world, we can’t see and know everything. No nation can.
Members of the Russian intelligence service (GRU) may have good reason to dispute Ms Harman's opinion - of course they have a tremendous advantage in not having been undermined and dismantled by their country's leadership over these past three years.
16
Be aware of the fact that the American 'intelligence community' has a very bad name globally, not only since Snowden's revelations.It is clear to a lot of European observers that the so called intelligence community is deeply involved in governing the USA , Nato and global security politics. It was at the heart of the dramatic mistakes in Syria.Lybia and Iraq.It pushed the regime change in Ukrain that has had enormous consequences. So,trust in that 'community' is low, or even zero.
Only by employing new people, not the result of inside cooptation , trust might slowly creep back in,depending on courses of action.
7
@pcohen
Thanks for the tip, Boris. Tell Natasha I said “Hi!”
1
Grenell's not so bad. He's got no experience but neither did Trump and see how well that turned out. And with Trump's new imperative to the Intelligence community, 'report no election interference that contains the words, Russia, Putin, Trump,' it should be fairly easy sailing for Grenell to be the temporary acting DNI.
11
I would say it is healthy for our Democracy to shake up intelligence agencies every so often. 17 agencies employing tens of thousand and spending untold billions annually. All hidden behind the shroud of national security, no shake it all up, consolidate it, reorder it, get ride if half if it. Repeat every few years.
7
@Mkm We already do that with each new administration. The important thing is to bring expertise and rational thought to the jobs; not lackeys.
52
Yes...intelligence agencies need corrective action. I’m not sure “shake up” is the term I would use to describe the right medicine.
Politically driven shake up sounds like downright medical malpractice.
21
@Mkm National Security is supposed to be behind a shroud, because of the sensitivity of the risks. The bad actors are not in the open usually, and therefore to prevent public fears, the work to defeat them takes dedicated career professionals, and they know what is needed to address the threats. It's not a common talent in the want ads, so to suggest it's a wise thing to clean house is nonsense. The appointments to head these agencies are picked, but the mission foundation is what keeps the ship steady during changes in leadership.
11
" How dangerous it would be if we lose the tip of the spear against those who would destroy us."
I think we're being a little over dramatic. DC's spy agencies have been using questionable tactics and reflecting partisan activities for decades.
The FBI, CIA, NSA....they've all gone too far - Snowden, Assange, Manning...they've all exposed the destructive powers of those agencies.
They're necessary, but they're run by humans who have emotions and bias.
Inside the beltway, they've all fallen prey to political influence...and it's no surprise.
We probably are the best spies in the world - there's no Country that can infiltrate borders and systems than the US.
I'm not worried about more of the same influence with Trump - once he leaves office, someone else will appoint their own partisan leaders and the same bias will continue.
Alarmists like Mr. Harman are just that - no one's getting destroyed - Americans have been safe before Trump, and will be safe long after Trump -
I walk outside every morning with no threat or concern - we protect our borders and always will - despite who's sitting in the Executive Office.
No threat here - just more of Washington's spook agencies stirring up spirits and ghosts.
9
@JMS Hubris is not a strategic intelligence methodology. Pearl Harbor, North Korea invasion of South Korea, and 9/11 are all examples of intelligence failures, primarily based on American hubris towards non-western (that is read white) nations or actors. We don't always protect our borders or interests well. Politics is everywhere because these agencies have political masters they report to, such as the President. That said, the rank and file folks at DOD, intelligence agencies, and State all pride themselves on providing the best information they can to political decision makers. That independence is being undermined with potential catastrophic results.
41
@JMS your assumption that Trump will ever leave office is breathtaking.
@JMS What are they necessary for?
After Richard Grenell made himself persona non grata in Germany by interfering with the country's business affairs in order to push a Trump agenda, it's no surprise that he should find himself rewarded with this new position of acting director of intelligence even though he has no experience in the field.
Still, nothing like that has ever stopped this president before as the best interests of this country has never played a role in his decisions.
The rest is easy enough to figure out.
163
@N. Smith
Right. Because ambassadors should never push the President’s agenda...
1
@Greg
They should not act like occupying forces. He is not just hated by the German political class, but by US business doing business in that country.
5
The Mueller report, Impeachment, endless revelations in the press....none of it worked because the GOP is simply not interested in reining in their monster. They want this, the GOP ruled Senate has enabled it, and they continue to promote it because most of them, including Mitch McConnell, are part of it. It is doubtful we will be able to stop this at the ballot box in November, because at this point, who trusts the election results. The purges will continue until we wake up in The Man in the High Castle.
87
@Jeffrey Schantz The GOP's donors have received every Christmas Gift they ever wanted. Deregulation. Check Unions. Access to public lands. They don't care about the rest, and since the GOP answered to Donors, NOT voters, they don't care about Trumps excesses...they view them as helpful, because no one has bandwidth left to notice that not only has their cheese been moved, it's been taken entirely.
19
Now is the time for ordinary Americans to create a coalition to reclaim our nation from these proto-despots through legitimate means. We must unilaterally embrace the Democratic party’s nominees for all elected offices. We must take down names of all those who advocate voter suppression—eg McConnell—and make sure they are voted out. We must take to the streets, not angrily, but joyfully, reminding those in power that we are the true patriots. We must not feast on gloom or fear, but rather build our coalition of the young who hope and the underrepresented who have been waiting to be counted and the ordinary Republicans who, once upon a time, would have embraced Eisenhower, a brave and decent and brilliant politician who believed in the rule of law. Cheating to win is not winning. Never before have we needed our tolerance of difference and optimism so much. But our call to duty is loud and clear. Vote them out. And then fix what’s broken. Strengthen what has been worn thin. Let the young dream new dreams. Don’t listen to the doubters. Together we’ve got this. We’re going to save this nation.
202
@Elizabeth
I will take to the streets in a minute, but no one is stepping up to organize us. Where are our leaders? Where is our MLK?
Not a penny more to MoveOn.
5
@Elizabeth This seems to be wishful thinking. Trump is very likely to be re-elected, whatever you think.
1
@Elizabeth History is not always a march forward to progress. So I admire your feisty resolve, but I believe the outcome is yet to be known.
So many of our institutions are being torn asunder right in front of us, but without an alternative vision of what they should become. We live in trying times.... and it is so difficult to predict what will be written in the history books about these times.
Trump is quite aware that his base voter is not paying any attention to this, or any other agency leadership issues. He will cut and paste to suit his personal fears and prejudices, without concern of losing support to get reelected, which is his only interest.
142
@drj You’re wrong. Just yesterday, the Sunday morning news shows grilled Republican guests over their inaction (and implicit promotion of) the latest classified house intelligence briefing that proved a new Russian effort to promote Trump’s reelection. By the afternoon, even CNN confessed the truth, that the so called intelligence was “overstated.”
And we are watching this.
1
I keep thinking about Germany shipping Lenin back to Russia in 1917. The German goal was to undermine the stability of its Russian enemy -- which certainly worked. And Putin's goal in backing Trump has been to undermine the stability of his American enemy, and, above all, our alliance with the European nations. That's working, too -- and the long-term consequences are as hard to predict as were the long-term consequences of Lenin's return to Russia in 1917.
171
@Rachel Kreier
Lenin returned to a Russia seething with revolutionary conflict, with millions of desperate people, many armed, reaching for power.
America is seething with outrage and discontent. We have no private armies of thousands of people ready to fight for power.
Russia was in the process of losing the largest war ever fought, up to then.
It's necessary to have a sense of proportion for what is going on.
3
@Rachel Kreier
Excellent observation.
Germany did undermine the stability of its Russian enemy, but underestimated the resolve of the Russian military, past the revolution.
@Rachel Kreier And yet the Russians were instrumental, in fact essential, in defeating the Nazis.
Is there any way of knowing if the members (or former members) of the Intelligence Agencies are starting to buy 'second homes' in foreign countries? If one begins to see 'those-in-the-know' abandoning a sinking ship then it will be time to really start worrying! Although my statement is half in jest, keeping an eye on the most informed might not be a bad idea.
23
I would be much more worried about how they could afford those second houses!
5
@Chris it doesn't cost that much to live comfortably in many other countries. 3-10K per month gets you a great existence, and that's not out of the ballpark of anyone with 30 years of steady salary, plus Social Security and a little investing.
4
@Chris You can pick them up for a dollar or a Euro in Italy. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-one-euro-home-buyers/index.html There are many deals available out there.
1
"For the sake of our country, I hope Mr. Grenell makes a careful assessment..."
Well we all know the answer to that question. Nada, no, never. Grenell has one mission and one mission only, serve the President no matter what. If lying, cheating, or illegal activities are required, so be it.
The only way to stop this travesty of an Administration is vote them out.
338
@cherrylog754
For intelligence officials, lying, cheating, or illegal activities ARE required. Always has, always will be.
1
@cherrylog754 Agree about Harman's analysis and yours. Also, as the son of the author of the Atlantan who wrote the poem "Cherrylog Road" a little curious about who's behind this handle.
1
@cherrylog754 I'm a nobody but out of the mouths of babes (in this case geezers) often comes wisdom.
I will vote for D Party candidates up and down the line because I am a patriot veteran who fought for the ideals upon which we based this Nation, and who deeply cares about the future my grandchildren and their children will face. I care about TRUTH, justice, progress, and the American way. I am all for Secular Liberal Democracy (SLD) our foundational philosophy.
Get woke America. The GOP IS a real and present existential threat to the heart and soul of this Nation and its promise. The GOP IS antithetical to SLD, to truth, to real necessary progress. The GOP is indubitably pointed toward Theocratic Authoritarian Plutocracy, regression, and societal sub-optimization. NOT what I fought for!
Conversely the D Party is NOT even close to being an existential threat. As imperfect as it may be, as flawed as any technical proposal they make may seem, as icky as any candidate strikes you, the D Party still stands for SLD and the SLD framework will itself medicate D flaws to ultimately get it right for all of us!
What we face is this: in 2020 46% of us will invariably vote for TAP; it is up to 54% of us to save this Nation with its D vote! Period!
12
Members of Congress might consider modifications to, or elimination of, the position of Director of National Intelligence. While much has changed since the beginning of our experiment in democracy, the warning shared with us by the founders remains relevant: too much power in too few hands is dangerous.
47
The hollowing out of the government will continue for as long as Trump is in office. But we have to realize that even if we have a new President on January 20, 2021 the damage will take a long, long time to undo.
To hire someone for an "ordinary" government job, from posting the position to the person starting work, takes from three to six months. For any position requiring a security clearance, the process can take up to a full year, sometimes longer. And if there are thousands of vacant positions, together with all of the political positions that need to be filled, the personnel agencies will be overwhelmed.
Once the positions are filled, the new hires need to learn their jobs and start to relate to their co-workers.
In summary I would not expect a return to a functioning federal government until 2023 at the earliest.
113
@John Graybeard
I think you’re an optimist.
2
@John Graybeard “Functioning Federal Government “...We haven’t had one of those since the ink on the constitution was still wet.
1
@John Graybeard
The new employees would also have to find ways to un-do harmful policies either administratively or by advising Congressional leaders/staff and a White house that's supportive.
They would have to gain enough experience to serve in agency leadership roles to their fullest professional potential.
I think we're talking more like 2033+.
1
One of the things I find most chilling is that it appears Trump wants to suppress any public knowledge of foreign election interference. Last week a career intelligence professional told Congress that Russia was repeating its 2016 meddling in the 2020 election, and Trump was outraged at the suggestion that it was intended to help get him re-elected. In 2016, our intelligence agencies unanimously concluded that was the case. It defies credibility to argue that the Kremlin is going to be any different this time. Yet, we saw Trump's political appointees trying to walk back the claim and argue that Putin really wants to see Bernie Sanders elected.
I do believe that Putin would try to boost Sanders and harm Biden (as has been reported), but only because Sanders is the Democratic candidate most likely to lose to Trump.
175
@David Bruce
The myth that all 17 intelligence agencies agreed that the Intelligence Community Assessment of Clapper and Brennan (January 2017) was correct continues apace.
Actually, the report was supported by the CIA (Brennan's outfit) and the DNI (Clapper). NSA supported it at a lower level of certainty.
Part of the argument for support is that Clapper (DNI) is in charge of all 17 agencies, so that his acceptance of his own report means all of his agencies agree. Trump could use this argument.
The other defense of the weak case is that no agency denied the truth of the report. Thus doubt is cast on the accused?
This is silly. lt is akin to holding an acquitted charged person under suspicion because the jury didn't clear him of doing other wrongs.
3
@David Bruce
"One of the things I find most chilling is that it appears Trump wants to suppress any public knowledge of foreign election interference."
Does 2016 ring a bell?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/us/politics/jeh-johnson-testimony-russian-election-hacking.html
1
@alyosha
The facts: There were 26 Russians indicted in the Mueller investigation:
In February of 2018, 13 Russian nationals were charged BY NAME with conspiracy to defraud the US by interfering in the 2016 election. In addition, 3 of those Russians were charged with wire & bank fraud, & 5 were charged with aggravated identity theft.
In June 2018, Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian spy who worked for Paul Mannafort & Rick Gates, was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.
In July of 2018 12 Russian intelligence officers were charged BY NAME with conspiracy to hack the DNC computers. In addition, Mueller indicted 3 Russian entities, including the IRA (Internet Research Agency), a Russian troll farm that was charged with interfering with the US election & its political process. This was a 37 page indictment, specifying all its illegal social media activities. Also charged were 2 other Russian companies that helped finance the IRA.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/20/17031772/mueller-indictments-grand-jury
4
This purge comes at a time when our agencies report that Russia is attempting to meddle in our elections, and that's the last thing Trump wants to have exposed. Think about this - our "president" not only is ignoring the threat to our fair and free elections - he is openly REFUSING to defend us and our way of life. Fair and free elections are the last things he wants, because they threaten his power. This is a war of the 21st century, waged in cyberspace and threatening the very foundation of our existence as a nation, and our "president" does everything he can to aid the enemy, REFUSING to defend us.
627
@Brookhawk - our so called prezident (as the russians would say) is not just ignoring the threats to our election, he is actively supporting those who are doing the threatening.
It is abundantly clear at this point that our so called president has been a russian asset (as they say in the intelligence community) for quite some time now. Our whole intelligence apparatus is now compromised.
45
@D
I wouldn’t say he is actively supporting interference, I would say he is encouraging it and even requesting it. He must win - at any cost - because if he is not re-elected, he is exposed to criminal prosecutions. That, and he stands to lose millions in revenue from the federal government for his golf trips, loss of endorsements, etc.
35
@Brookhawk You stated it very well. In other words, trump is committing treason; he is not upholding our US Constitution. In fact, he is actively undermining it. Every Republican who voted not to remove trump from office should also be charged with treason.
37
I don't doubt Trump & Co. will politicize the IC, but I truly question that much would be "destroyed". In other words, I'm far from convinced that the IC, on balance, provides any security.
I think it's quite possible that the mischief and misdeeds they do under the cover of 'darkness' may outweigh the (true, accurate and actionable) information they provide.
12
@Apathycrat the IC includes CIA and FBI which Trump has already compromised and filled with inexperienced and leaders who live to uphold Trump's tweet stream. How can we forget the impact of politicized IC when the reality is that as soon as Bush Jr came into office, Cheney disregarded everything that NY's FBI was telling the WH, all while the CIA withheld info and acted as an enemy to the FBI and Cheney cleaned house and ignored the previous admin's intel and teams. Political crotch-grabbing, acting like govt is now under 'your power' instead of at the service of security, freedom, liberty, happiness-is what caused the WH to ignore intel that clearly indicated an imminent attack.
3
@Apathycrat "I think, may, quite possible, far from convinced". These are the things people say when they have zero facts to support their beliefs. That is dangerous thinking, to use the word "thinking" loosely. More like dangerous rambling.
2
Don't count on Mr. Grenell doing anything that is competent or non-political. The House and Senate intelligence committees will do their jobs to coral him and protect us.
8
And how will they do that when Trump continues to fill these positions with "acting" individuals who do not get vetted or approved by Congress? He definitely has learned his lesson.
103
@Deb I also think it's hilarious that he hires political dodos with zero experience in their appointment areas...to hold multiple roles. Anyone who's held a cabinet seat in the past (approved by Congress as well) could tell you that running an entire department of the US Govt is not like overseeing the yoga instructor schedules at the gym, managing a grocery store, or 7-11. Are inexperienced partisan players holding multiple titles and 'running' multiple staffs? Yes. Are they doing it professionally, expertly or even 'well'? Definitely not. We just had one of these clowns go on air to spew the "Russia helping Trump get elected story" as Liberal Propaganda. So that's our new Intel person, mirroring Il Douche's Twitter feed instead of stating the Truth To Power that all skilled IC members have been trying to get out there.
4
@Gordon Alderink give us a break. Google the Republican membership of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Do you need to read beyond the name of Susan Collins before you get a sinking feeling that we can’t expect oversight or protection from that group? And she’s not the only sycophant.
1
The DNI job is already very difficult, with 17 agencies to work with and an average time in the job of about 2 years (counting acting directors) since it was created.
But, as the article says, this is deliberate destruction, part of the systematic dismantling of our government and transformation into an autocracy. That seems to be what many GOP voters wanted and they seem happy with what they are getting. The rest of us can only watch in dismay.
233
@Archipelago said "The rest of us can only watch in dismay."
The rest of us ("We The People") can vote these members of the Cult of Trump out of office on November 9, 2020.
5
@Archipelago
Not dismay- horror.
5
@Archipelago The rest of us can use our creativity and dedication to fight for our democracy! Voting is a must, but also not nearly enough. Whether marching in the street, canvassing, writing letters, running for office, etc. those of us that want to keep our democracy need to stay involved. Find a group of likeminded souls and bring your talents and energy to work with them in the effort of keeping/making this a gov of the people, by the people, for the people! Silently sitting by is a recipe for failure.
2