Defense Chief Orders NSA to Hire Operative

[applegrove]

Defense Chief Orders NSA to Hire Operative

January 16, 2021 at 7:41 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/16/defense-chief-orders-nsa-to-hire-operative/

"SNIP......

Acting defense secretary Christopher Miller ordered the director of the National Security Agency to install on Saturday a former GOP political operative as the NSA’s top lawyer, the Washington Post reports.

It is unclear what the NSA will do.

......SNIP"

[HipChick]

1. Can NSA stall till Wednesday?

[dlk]

2. Wait a few days...

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Drug Test & Background Check Will Be Done Thursday.

He can start as soon as that's complete!
Sorry, Thursday was the best we could do.

[Irish_Dem]

4. What is Trump up to now?

We know when he starts moving checker pieces around he is up to something.

[CanonRay]

5. Why would they want someone in place for a few days?

Seems devious to me

[blogslut]

6. Michael Ellis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ellis_(Trump_administration_official)



Trump Tower wiretapping allegations
Main article: Trump Tower wiretapping allegations

On March 29, 2017, The New York Times reported that Ellis and Ezra Cohen-Watnick were involved in the leaking of intelligence documents to Representative Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The following day, The Washington Post reported that John Eisenberg was also involved. In April 2017 the Associated Press quoted a U.S. official as saying that although Cohen-Watnick had access to those kinds of intelligence materials, he did not play a role in helping Nunes gain access to the documents. The official instead suggested that Ellis had shared the documents. According to the U.S. official, Cohen-Watnick was not involved in showing the material to Nunes, did not clear Nunes onto the White House grounds, did not review the material with Nunes, and was not even aware that the material was going to be shared with Chairman Nunes.

[coti]

8. So they want him to root through and leak files for a few days nt

[scarletwoman]

11. Thank you for digging that up.

Makes this last minute move even more suspect.

[captain queeg]

7. certainly a regulaer civil servant would have to have asecurity check, maybe a drug test

But we've seen trump can dismiss that stuff like he did for his spawn

[stillcool]

9. never ends...

Ellen Nakashima
Jan. 16, 2021 at 6:40 p.m. EST

Acting defense secretary orders NSA director to immediately install former GOP operative as the agency’s top lawyer

In November, Pentagon General Counsel Paul C. Ney Jr. named Michael Ellis, then a White House official, to the position of general counsel at the NSA, a career civilian post at the government’s largest and most technologically advanced spy agency, The Post reported. He was selected after a competitive civil service competition. He has not taken up the job, however, as he needed to complete administrative procedures, including taking a polygraph test.

Reached by phone Saturday, Ellis said, “I don’t talk to the press, thank you,” and hung up.
NSA Director Paul Nakasone was not in favor of Ellis’s selection and has sought to delay his installation, according to several people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
---------------------
Ellis’s naming, made under pressure from the White House, drew criticism from national security legal experts. It “appears to be an attempt to improperly politicize an important career position,” wrote Susan Hennessey, a former lawyer in the NSA Office of General Counsel, on Lawfare, where she is the executive editor.

The move is troubling, coming as it does four days before President Trump leaves office and the Biden administration takes over, former U.S. officials said. The move makes it more difficult for the Biden administration to immediately replace him, the former officials said.


“An 11th-hour move like this and a directive from the acting secretary of defense is overwhelmingly strong evidence of irregularity,” Hennessey said on Saturday. “Unless the acting secretary of defense can produce a compelling rationale for why this individual needed to be installed now, there should be a presumption that this is improper and the Biden team should remove this individual on Day 1.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/acting-defense-secretary-orders-nsa-director-to-immediately-install-former-gop-operative-as-the-agencys-top-lawyer/2021/01/16/b3e06a02-5837-11eb-a931-5b162d0d033d_story.html

[dalton99a]

10. +1. Biden should order his removal on Wednesday.

[dutch777]

12. Simple response..."Order received, will advise Thursday"

And if not I am sure Biden can fix it. These are dumb moves. Other than allowing the person to say I was XYZ at NSA on his resume' (leaving off dates of service of course) and adding one more administrative clean up task for the Biden team, makes no sense.