Trump is turning every intelligence agency into an instrument of his private revenge
newsdepo.com
Donald Trump has authorized Attorney General William Barr to sift through the classified documents of every U.S. intelligence agency looking for material he can use against anyone he perceives as an opponent. This action represents a weaponizing of the entirTrump is turning every intelligence agency into an instrument of his private revenge
Donald Trump has authorized Attorney General William Barr to sift through the classified documents of every U.S. intelligence agency looking for material he can use against anyone he perceives as an opponent. This action represents a weaponizing of the entire intelligence network, in essence turning all of the FBI, CIA, NSA and more into an opposition research organization. Not only does this action threaten the integrity of our government, it also challenges the security of the services involved. In presenting unilateral authority for Barr to declassify material as he pleases, Trump places in danger both the processes and the assets of the agencies involved. From techniques, to technologies, to sources, to the most sacred item of any intelligence agency—the names and locations of agents in the field—there is no aspect of national security unchallenged by the action Trump has taken. When Representative Devin Nunes attempts to persuade Trump to selectively declassify a much smaller set of material in order to support the pro-Trump report he was writing at the time, directors of every service involved appealed to Congress to prevent their release, warning against the dangers the action could create. But Republicans greased the path that Trump has now taken, voting repeatedly to allow the release of material that the agencies believed a hazard to existing and future operations. One of the greatest impacts of that action has been a rapid decline in trust by agencies of allied nations. From the Nunes fiasco, to watching Trump hand over classified information to the Russian ambassador, to Jared Kushner’s multiple trips to Saudi Arabia to gift Mohammed bin Salman with a list of those people he most needed to murder, agencies around the world have been given reason after reason to restrict the flow of information from their agencies to the United States. With the action now taken by Trump to end the discretion of agencies in the name of revenge, that door will slam shut. This is the end of the “five-eyes” agreement. The end of open, active cooperation. The end of multi-national operations. Trump’s actions have just endangered the services, they’ve endangered Americans. In a single executive order, he has done more to put the American at risk than every intelligence operation mounted by our enemies for decades. Read more