Trump does not attach considerable importance to the findings of American intelligence. He listens to the briefing of intelligence services at most once a week, while the previous presidents did it six days a week. It seems that he values interview findings only if they confirm his instinct or build his theses. And if the agents, or even the national intelligence director from his nomination Tulsi Gabbard, preach uncomfortable truths, disavowed their assessments – write David Gioe, Professor King's College in London and a former CIA analyst, and Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency (Supreme Administrative Court) and a retired US aviation general.
For the new American administration, the most important criterion for assessing people working in such services is loyalty, moreover, the president creates a climate in which superiors discourage intelligence analysts from presenting information and assessments that do not confirm Trump's expectations. Many high rank, experienced employees of intelligence agencies left or were dismissed from work, because their views did not like the Trump's office or they did not want to work themselves, meeting the peculiar expectations of the new office.
The services do not meet the President's expectations
Gabbard ordered agencies to increase the collection of intelligence on Greenland to assess how strong independence movements are there, because Trump wants to annex this territory. The island, however, does not threaten the security of the US, and agents delegated to this task cannot deal with problems such as terrorism or plans and subversive operations of China, Iran and Russia – the authors emphasize.
When Gabbard herself announced during hearing in Congress that Iran is not close to building a nuclear weapon, Trump said: “I don't care what she is saying.” According to Gioe and Hayden, the president creates working conditions in which high -ranking members of his office “sew intelligence information” for his needs to please the president.
The director of the FBI Kash Patel reorganized his agency so that special agents and analysts deal with the fight against immigration. The office, whose task is also a counterintelligence activity, therefore does not focus on spy operations of Russia or China – remind experts.
In May, Gabbard released after the head of the National Intelligence Council and his deputy, because their report on the Venezuelan Gang Tren de Aragua did not meet the expectations of administration and its theses to justify the deportation of refugees from Venezuela.
Trump dismissed the Director of the Supreme Administrative Court and the head of the cybernetic command, because he was encouraged by the extreme right -wing influencer and supporter of conspiracy theories Laura Loomer; Earlier, Loomer led to the entire group of high -ranking officials of the National Security Council (NSC), because she convinced Trump that they were not loyal enough. The activist is famous for its outrageous statements, as well as for theories such as the fact that the attacks of September 11 were “internal work” – remind the authors.
Administration and conspiracy theories
The Trump administration is strangely susceptible to conspiracy theories at all, and the author of the particularly absurd claims is the deputy head of FBI Dan Bonino. The president, who on the one hand, undergoes such influence, and, on the other, accepts only the information that corresponds to him, “he will not be able to make thoughtful decisions based on hard reality,” warn Gioe and Hayden.
According to them, Trump is aiming at the authoritarian style of government and threatens him with what other buses – he will only receive information that he wants to hear. Just like Putin, who terrorized the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SWR) Sergei Naryszkin, but was surprised that the invasion of Ukraine came across effective resistance. “The unshakable belief that Putin had, that Ukraine quickly capitulates, is the greatest defeat of the intelligence during the quarter of his power,” say Gioe and Hayden. Under Trump's rule, the US intelligence, which belongs to the best in the world, is threatened with similar failures – they state.
