The United States intelligence community saw the president of the United States as “a security risk” throughout the Trump administration. As such, the intelligence community occasionally withheld information from Trump due to concerns that he would leak or pass on state secrets. It all sounds “sensible” as applied to Trump. But stand back for a minute and suck in the dynamic. The United States of America, with the most devastating military ever assembled and the most sophisticated intelligence apparatus in existence, was led by a man that the leaders of these agencies considered to be a “risk.” It is breathtaking.
According to the New York Times:
Mr. Trump’s behavior led to such mistrust within intelligence agencies that officials who gave him classified briefings occasionally erred on the side of withholding some sensitive details from him…
But Douglas London, who served as a top C.I.A. counterterrorism official during the Trump administration, said that officials were even more cautious about what information they provided Mr. Trump because some saw the president himself as a security risk. “We certainly took into account ‘what damage could he do if he blurts this out?’
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As an example, the Times pointed to an event we’re all familiar with, which just demonstrates that Trump truly was a risk; we know about what happened despite the fact that it was dangerous knowledge for us “all” (the world) to have.
In August 2019, Mr. Trump received a briefing about an explosion at a space launch facility in Iran. He was so taken by a classified satellite photo of the explosion that he wanted to post it on Twitter…
Aides tried to talk Trump out of it because it gave away so much in technical detail regarding our satellite capability. Trump didn’t care (He doesn’t care about the country, we need to get that through our heads). It made good television, and he put the tweet out anyway, as we all saw:
He posted the photo anyway, adding a message that the United States had no role in the explosion but wished Iran “best wishes and good luck†in discovering what caused it. As he told one American official about his decision: “I have declassification authority. I can do anything I want.â€
The quote regarding his “classification authority” and thus the ability to do whatever he wants is surely the basis for why the intelligence community saw Trump – their president – as a risk to the nation itself, and thus they kept intelligence from him, likely because Trump enjoyed declassifying stuff and “doing anything he wants.”
This man cannot hold power again. This may sound sacrilegious in a democracy, but one would almost hope that there would be a counter-intelligence operation to keep Trump from ever achieving office again. It won’t happen, but that doesn’t mean certain things won’t “leak,” stuff damaging to Trump if he starts to get traction again. One could see it as one’s patriotic duty. Remember, he doesn’t care about the country. He cares about himself, and he wants good television. It’s all a show, and he’s the star.
Though, to be sure, the plot line for his “character” seems to be taking an interesting turn.
@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact with any concerns.
