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applegrove

(118,011 posts)
Tue Jan 17, 2017, 07:22 PM Jan 2017

Trumps conflict with spies is more than a dangerous moment

by Sebastian Rotella, Propublica, Salon

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/17/trump-conflict-with-spies_parnter/

SNIP.............


Olsen: I think it’s a dangerous moment. Because of how important it is for the political leadership of the country, up to and including the president, to have confidence in the information and analysis that we are getting from the intelligence community. And right now the intelligence community is being told that what they say doesn’t matter, or that it’s biased, or that it’s partisan, and those criticisms cut to the core of the whole reason for the existence of the intelligence community. That is, to be outside of the political process, to be expert, so your opinions do matter, and then to be able to inform political leaders in a way that gives leadership a decision advantage. That’s the mission of the intelligence community. And if the President-elect is saying that those things aren’t true, then there’s no reason for the intelligence community to exist. That’s why the most significant criticism that can be levelled at an intelligence professional is this idea that they’re biased.

In the short term, if the president just ignores the intelligence community that’s obviously extremely dangerous, because the decisions won’t be made based on the facts. But in the long run, you can actually have an impact on the intelligence community itself. So that a young person coming out of a graduate program decides instead of going to the CIA, I’m going to instead go to Goldman Sachs, and make a lot more money anyway.

For now, what I experienced at the National Counterterrorism Center, out of the thousand or so people there, across the board there were just incredibly talented, mostly young people, who could’ve gone to Wall Street or to Silicon Valley, but wanted to go fight al-Qaida. And it was enormously gratifying to walk into a briefing room and have these people who were just incredibly talented and dedicated. And I’m concerned that one of the impacts of the latest controversy over the Russian hacking starts to undermine the fact that the intelligence community can continue to recruit and retain the most talented thinkers in the country.

..........

I’ve talked to a few people who are in leadership positions in the intelligence community. And they have confirmed what seems obvious from my position on the outside: that these are difficult times. And people are wondering: What’s it going to be like in six months or a year? Is my job going to matter? Is the work I do going to matter? And I think the leadership is trying to encourage people that this is just campaign talk, and not how the government will operate in six months.

..............SNIP

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Trumps conflict with spies is more than a dangerous moment (Original Post) applegrove Jan 2017 OP
and since other countries aren't going to trust us with their intelligence, renate Jan 2017 #1
So far Trump and his cronies triron Jan 2017 #2
He'll end it as soon as he's in office... Right now it's shit talking season uponit7771 Jan 2017 #3

renate

(13,776 posts)
1. and since other countries aren't going to trust us with their intelligence,
Tue Jan 17, 2017, 07:28 PM
Jan 2017

... we are well and truly screwn. A country like the United States of America, totally isolated... the mind boggles.

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