NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–January 5, 2017
Ret. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Trump’s choice for national security adviser
There’s an old, old strategy for what to do when someone keeps delivering a message you don’t want to hear: Kill the messenger.
President-elect Donald Trump, a harsh critic of U.S. intelligence agencies, is working with top advisers on a plan that would restructure and pare back the nation’s top spy agency, people familiar with the planning said.
It’s easy for Trump to chop back the intelligence community. After all, he already has his agents in place.
Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" – why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Which is a much easier message to hear than the one Trump is getting from the people currently paid to provide this information.
U.S. spy agencies are in full agreement that Russia directed the hacking and orchestrated email dumps to WikiLeaks to help Trump win — a finding at the heart of a classified assessment completed this week.
“You seem to have two choices now — some guy living in an embassy, on the run from the law for rape, who has a history of undermining American democracy and releasing classified information to put our troops at risk, or the 17 intelligence agencies sworn to defend us.” …
Trump’s online endorsement of Assange is his latest insult to the U.S. intelligence community and is likely to intensify the antagonism between the president-elect and U.S. spy agencies. He has repeatedly disparaged their work and skipped most of the daily briefings prepared for a future White House occupant.
Trump then clarified his position this morning.
The dishonest media likes saying that I am in Agreement with Julian Assange – wrong. I simply state what he states, it is for the people….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017
It’s not that Trump agrees with Julian Assange … he’s just the PEOTUS, and he’s just repeating everything Assange says. Which he will, so long as he likes what Assange is saying.
People who say things Trump doesn’t like are being political.
“The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world has become completely politicized,” said the individual, who is close to the Trump transition. “They all need to be slimmed down. The focus will be on restructuring the agencies and how they interact.”
His choice for national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, has said Washington must “combine the United States’ national security strategy along with Russia’s.”
Flynn’s position will put him in charge of the White House security council, giving him a broad role in defining how intelligence is used—and allowing him to get back at the agencies that tossed him out two years ago. Nothing like having an angry, egocentric, revenge-driven Putin worshiper in charge of determining America’s intelligence policy. Especially when that guy reports to an angry, egocentric, revenge-driven Putin worshiper.
The idea that Trump wants to rip apart the current intelligence community is disturbing to those who feel that maybe agencies shouldn’t be dissolved for the crime of delivering the truth. But, amazingly, Republicans are still expecting that Trump will begin being presidential.
Republicans are staking their hopes on the idea that once Trump takes office, he will come around to their point of view on the Kremlin.
Any day now. Just … any day. Wait and see. In the meantime, at least somebody is getting a good night’s sleep.
“Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all the rules and the West will try to follow all the rules,” [Mattis] told Heritage. “That is a very dangerous dichotomy in the way the world is being run.”
Trump won’t try to follow all the rules. Just those Putin provides.
Source: http://dailykos.com
