Trump goes to war against intelligence
President Donald Trump has torn the security authorizations of 37 current officials and former national security, an unprecedented decision that emptied parts of the intelligence community.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has exercised authorizations as a political weapon, draw them from enemies perceivedLike former President Joe Biden, the New York Prosecutor General Letitia James, and Other best democrats. Now purge has expanded to professional intelligence and some of the government’s most experienced analysts.
Several of the targets had been involved in Russian interference or threats to foreign elections. And many had signed a 2019 letter warning that Trump’s relations with Ukraine were serious enough to justify the indictment procedure. This letter resurfaced several weeks ago, when the theorist of the conspiracy of the far right Laura Loomer published it on X and asked that “dozens of CIA anti-top officials and [National Security Council]Who signed it loses their clearances.
Trump and his intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, delivered. Among those affected Shelby Pierson, the official who warned the congress on the influence of Russia in 2020, as well as an infiltrated CIA and Vinh X. NguyenA data scientist at the National Security Agency whose expertise In artificial intelligence had made him invaluable for the agency. Eviction of Nguyen Former amazed colleaguesWho warned that its withdrawal could allow us to develop years of technological development.
Revocations are part of a wider campaign Trump and Gabbard, echoing The unresolved complaints of the president that the intelligence agencies manipulated assessments on Russian interference in 2016. Tuesday, Gabbard supervised its actions As a “politicization or the armament of intelligence”, but offered no evidence that the officials in question had poorly managed the classified equipment.
“Attracting from a security authorization is a privilege, not a right,” she wrote in an article on X, saying that her actions were following Trump management.
Critics say that the opposite is true: the authorizations themselves are politicized. Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic Vice-President of the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized the effort as a smoke screen.
“Hey, it’s a day ending with ‘y’, so Tulsi Gabbard launched another strange gambit to distract the failure of the administration to publish the Epstein files”, he wrote on social networks. Warner also told the New York Times that he introduced legislation to establish clear standards for the granting and revocation of authorizations.
But Trump and Gabbard do not act alone. The Attorney General Pam Bondi has summoned a working group To re -examine the 2016 Intelligence Review, while CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified internal reports and same referral Former CIA director John Brennan at the FBI for a more in -depth investigation. Together, the movements come back to a large attempt to rewrite the history of Russian electoral interference.
The practical effects are mixed. Some of the 37s may not have active authorizations or government contracts. For current officials, loss of authorization means immediate dismissal. For former civil servants, he remains the ability to consult or advise – hooks a lot to play.
However, symbolism is clear. Trump has armed the clearance system To punish criticism, a strategy that will relax in agencies in agencies already distrusting the White House.
Even those caught in the Dragnet Mocked from the movement. When Trump made the authorization of James earlier this year, she retaliated: “What security authorization?”
For lawyers like Mark Zaidwhich represents intelligence managers and lost his own authorization Under Trump, hypocrisy is obvious.
“These are illegal and unconstitutional decisions that deviate from well -established and old decades who sought to protect against this type of action,” said Zaid in a press release The Associated Press And others, call The current intelligence management “a serious danger to national security”.
