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| Intel Community: Trump doesn't trust Us |
| 2016-12-12 |
| [POLITICO] Donald Trump's insult-laced dismissal of reports that the CIA believes Russia hacked the 2016 election to help him is rattling a spy community already puzzled over how to gain the ear and trust of the incoming president. Some fear that Trump's highly public rebukes of the U.S. intelligence apparatus will undermine morale in the spy agencies, politicize their work, and damage their standing in a world filled with adversaries. After all, if the U.S. president doesn't believe his own intelligence officials, why should anyone else? Trump, a career businessman with no national security experience, has long taken positions that have alarmed intelligence officials, such as supporting torture and suggesting that it's OK to kill the family members of terrorists. His choice of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a man who promotes conspiracy theories on Twitter, as his national security adviser has unnerved observers. And his apparent reluctance to accept daily intelligence briefings since winning on Nov. 8 has fueled concerns that Trump will assume the presidency blind to the dangers facing the United States. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #28 I agree PP is a tool. But too many people use it to write their presentation - and a lot of important details get glossed over. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2016-12-12 23:27 |
| #27 #24 PowerPoint is a tool CF - it all depends on the practitioner. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-12-12 22:47 |
| #26 the curtain needs lifting on the intel community and the broom sweep through obama politicised it but there were problems even before then we made the wrong decision on 9/11 because of bad advice and forever after we have been piling up the lies as we try to maintain the fiction "nothing to do with islam" when it is everything to do with Islamist theocratic fascism and we have pursued wrong migration and foreign policy because of it we should have declared war on Islamist theocrats and treated sharia as treason from day 1. |
| Posted by: anon1 2016-12-12 22:46 |
| #25 the details of the risk involved were buried deep in brief bullet-point of a single slide of a powerpoint presentation. A lot of technical writing, particularly user manuals, have similar flaws. TV ads for prescription meds during the evening news, ditto. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2016-12-12 21:36 |
| #24 He shouldn't. They have become so political and tell the president what he wants to hear it is just about worthless. I have seen some of the daily reports when I worked for the DoD and while they are pretty interesting, they don't change much from day to day and have very little to effect change to a national policy. Let the Director do the daily stuff and brief the president once a week and report immediately if something scary turns up and needs presidential and national attention. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-12-12 21:00 |
| #23 President Obama wanted his intelligence briefings printed out and left in his In box, so he could review them at his leisure. Given that Mr. Trump has a bit of spare cash lying about, and given the fact that he owns or is involved in properties and projects around the world, it seems reasonable to expect that he is already receiving regular private security reports of the sort that Strategy Page and others provide. I mean. the highest value to me of Rantburg and certain other sites I check daily is that they inform me about the issues in the places Mr. Wife travels to and through on business so I know when to worry -- and he is a mere department head. If so, the CIA mavens are going to find their upcoming first meeting very different from the first meetings they gave the previous several presidents. Oh to be a fly on that wall on that day! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2016-12-12 20:10 |
| #22 How is the briefing done? I've seen a lot of presentations (but no Intel Briefings of course!). Too many of them were simply people standing up and reading from a frigging power point slide. Do you have any idea how low the bandwidth of a powerpoint slide is? (hint: if someone is simply reading a powerpoint presentation it's a very good indicator that they don't have a clue what the F they are talking about!) Saw a presentation from Edward Tuft, a professor on Information Presentation, on the briefings before the Challenger disaster and how the details of the risk involved were buried deep in brief bullet-point of a single slide of a powerpoint presentation. The data was there but with the 'boil down all this data into a single bullet-point' and the astronomical noise-to-data ratio it was invisible. I get the impression that Obama and company simply LOVED powerpoint presentations - perhaps that is what the briefings devolved into? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2016-12-12 16:18 |
| #21 They think the world revolves around them. They think their reports are 'must reads'. Not spending the time to read what are often rehashes of the previous reports is inconceivable to them, because that is what they do, it is their output. A 'deltas' report would be better, which I think is what Trump asked for. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2016-12-12 15:52 |
| #20 Or are the apparatchiks doing their bit to derail the First Year of the Trump Presidency? Magpie First year and subsequent years as well no doubt. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-12-12 15:09 |
| #19 Why, oh why, does the President-Elect absolutely need a Daily Brief? He as zero authority until the swearing in ceremony and his time would seem to be needed on the Transition Process. Or are the apparatchiks doing their bit to derail the First Year of the Trump Presidency? |
| Posted by: magpie 2016-12-12 14:05 |
| #18 To put it into historical perspective (remember 'history'?) the IC has generally been at loggerheads with the Oval Office. And the IC in the past had generally been non-political. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-12-12 13:26 |
| #17 Given the affinity of Brennan, Rice, ValJar and Rhodes, the Agency seems likely to have had a deeper drift to PC assessments for Champ. What Trump sees seems to confirm that, and I'm guessing Flynn, McFarland and Pompeio may well be whispering in his ear other opinions. Ask the CentCom analysts if assessments are bent to fit what is wanted. Given that, skepticism does seem reasonable. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2016-12-12 13:09 |
| #16 Trump simply told them to let him know if something changes and now their panties are in a wad. Why should he have to endure the same report day after day? Or in intelligence parlance, 'Nothing Significant to Report' (NSTRP).... 'nester' |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-12-12 11:35 |
| #15 Trump simply told them to let him know if something changes and now their panties are in a wad. Why should he have to endure the same report day after day? And IIRC, the CIA told W that Iraq didn't have WMD and that didn't go over well. Although I'm sure they had some of the equipment, they weren't in a position to do much about it yet. |
| Posted by: gorb 2016-12-12 10:33 |
| #14 Trump doesn't trust the intel community? With good reason, it is politicized and they have often been wrong. He has some good appointments and there will be a house-cleaning soon. The State Department also needs to be cleaned up. In fact, most departments could use a paring down bigly. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2016-12-12 10:05 |
| #13 You really need to clean out the dead wood every 15-20 years. Or more frequently even? One wonders where we would be today if GW Bush had not decided to have so many Clinton holdovers in the intel sector. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2016-12-12 09:52 |
| #12 It has been publicized that the daily briefings have been skewed to please the out going POTUS. If that were to be true then the PE would have no use for a daily briefing. |
| Posted by: jvalentour 2016-12-12 08:33 |
| #11 "Intel Community: Trump doesn't trust Us." Screw Trump. I don't trust you! |
| Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 2016-12-12 08:22 |
| #10 The biggest problem in the intel community is that after 9-11, lapses were found, but no heads rolled. Since then, they've come to believe that they're bulletproof. You really need to clean out the dead wood every 15-20 years. Premier 'lessons learned' assessment of the day, possibly the decade. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2016-12-12 07:41 |
| #9 The CIA is not as "professional" as they would like us to believe. They don't want to work for President Trump? Their problem. They will pay the price. Russia doesn't HAVE the reach to influence an American Election. Saying that it does is Democrat propaganda. Russia is a potential ally and that can be arranged. Putin is no more than what he is, but he is a realist. And Trump is a realist , as well. The EU is not our friend. And the CIA isn't Trump's friend. Deal with both realities. The CIA will have to adjust to reality. They work and answer to Trump now. I seriously doubt that the CIA is reliable or credible. The purpose of a thing is always itself. The CIA looks after itself first. They can be replaced. They need to think about that. That CAN be done. |
| Posted by: Glinemble Omoluling5707 2016-12-12 05:40 |
| #8 "They don’t like the president-elect’s criticism and are even more concerned that he is skipping his intelligence briefings," Can't tolerate criticism from their boss? Worried he's not taking their briefings? Well guess what, very few actually enjoy criticism. Obama was somewhat lax with his daily briefings as I recall and no one said much about it from the Dem side. So let it go and get back to work ! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-12-12 02:16 |
| #7 Take a look to the right and left of you. Now tell me how many of these Professionals you purged because you did not like their views... AHEM.. Data collection, algorithms, or political views? Tell me? Does he kick his prayer rug under the desk when you come around? Or do you kick your prayer rug under the desk when your boss comes around? |
| Posted by: newc 2016-12-12 01:14 |
| #6 Man, they are hurt that he's not paying attention to them. The fact that they might have brought this on themselves apparently has little traction. |
| Posted by: Thumper Dribble5791 2016-12-12 01:03 |
| #5 As we say in Pittsburgh "Git aht!" |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2016-12-12 01:00 |
| #4 OK, he's not Bush II. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-12-12 00:29 |
| #3 Would you trust those slimeballs? Me either. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2016-12-12 00:27 |
| #2 The intel community is part of the Obama Regime now, the same regime that said Trump would not be elected, and when he was, said they did not see it coming. If the regime claims they also did not foresee the emergence of ISIS, either. Nor predicted various domestic terrorist attacks in the past 8 years. Their concerns about their jobs are greater than their ability to protect the US. Drain the swamp. |
| Posted by: Flineque Henbane1763 2016-12-12 00:20 |
| #1 He shouldn't. |
| Posted by: Crusader 2016-12-12 00:01 |