Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Does Trump really have an issue with the intelligence community?

The conventional wisdom is that Donald Trump is "at war" with the intelligence community. But is that really a fair assessment, considering how much infighting we have seen in recent times within the intelligence community?

There were leaks from FBI officials regarding the investigation into the Hillary Clinton email server. There were leaks from Inspector Generals regarding the same investigation. It was said that Comey's press conference was hastily thrown together to squelch the ongoing work being done by some of the agents. There has been plenty of talk about riffs between the DOJ and the FBI. There has been disagreement (some of them public) between the CIA and the NSA, the FBI and the CIA, and probably some between the NSA and the FBI as well.

Believe me, I love the intelligence community!
You're gonna find out just how much! 

In fact, there has even been speculation (at one time or the other) that the rank and file are not happy with the management in pretty much all of the agencies.

It would appear that the intelligence community is not a very cohesive happy family at the moment, regardless of who is going to be calling the shots come this Friday. Perhaps the real issue here has nothing to do with Donald Trump and the "community"... but rather this is a good old fashioned D.C. pissing match between Trump and the politically appointed intelligence community "leadership" that he will soon be replacing with his own people.

Perhaps we should see where things go once the CIA, DOJ, and NSA are actually answering to people who answer to Trump, rather than answering to people who answer to Obama. I have a sneaking suspicion that once his people are in place, that there will no longer be much fighting going on between Trump and these agencies.

Of course, that will likely be because these agencies will no longer be crawling under rocks looking for excuses for Hillary's loss, ties between Putin and Trump, or whether or not Trump has unscrupulous business connections to the Chinese or other foreign interest. In fact, I doubt under Trump's command that they will spend any time at all investigating the 2016 election or the new Commander in Chief.

I have suspicion that they will find some other areas of interest, that may in fact create some tension between the intelligence community and the other political Party.


50 comments:

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

Brennan is calling him incompetent, almost. But what is better, Trump's BFF said that the CIA is trying to make Trump illegitimate. If you weren't blind, you would be as worried as I am.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...


Perhaps we should see where things go once the CIA, DOJ, and NSA are actually answering to people who answer to Trump, rather than answering to people who answer to Obama. I have a sneaking suspicion that once his people are in place, that there will no longer be much fighting going on between Trump and these agencies.

Of course, that will likely be because these agencies will no longer be crawling under rocks looking for excuses for Hillary's loss, ties between Putin and Trump, or whether or not Trump has unscrupulous business connections to the Chinese or other foreign interest. In fact, I doubt under Trump's command that they will spend any time at all investigating the 2016 election or the new Commander in Chief.

I have suspicion that they will find some other areas of interest, that may in fact create some tension between the intelligence community and the other political Party.


Bonkers bullshit, partisan blindness.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

The claim that the intelligence agencies are partisan makes me wonder, what is in your pipe.

C.H. Truth said...

Just so we are clear here Roger...

You believe that Trump will fight with the very people (Jeff Sessions, John Kelly, Mike Pompeo, Michael Rogers, and Dan Coats)... that he nominated and will report directly to him?

KD, OMG said...

Spam is all you do., what happened to your no spam policy and you being asked to spam on your own blog side of this site.


Snowflake

KD, CHT wins over MaryBAKED again said...

Once President Trump cleans out the old guard and the bitter clingers from the Obama nightmare years, he will have a group of honest men reporting to him real facts .

CHT I loved your bitch slapping of MaryBAKED.

My problem is that little land mine setter and grenade thrower that is still in power that the Federal Reserve, she is going to be cranking out Rate Hikes now that Obama has left.



Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

Trump is politicizing the intelligence agencies. He's accusing them as being partisan Democratic supporters. That's simply a creation by your blindly partisan mind. The truth is that they are there to supply data based on field workers, and electronic and other means for the President, not data written with a partisan slant.

Your increasingly partisan mind set leads you to conclusions that are not supported by reality.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

"Of course, that will likely be because these agencies will no longer be crawling under rocks looking for excuses for Hillary's loss,"

You are claiming that the intelligence services are upset by Clinton's loss, so you need to clean your pipe, because anyone with an working brain can see that you are claiming the intelligence services are partisan

What the hell are you smoking?

C.H. Truth said...

Roger... you seemingly miss "the" fundamental piece of information here. All of these agencies report to someone the President nominated and ultimately they all report to the President.

Ultimately, the decisions on what to investigate, who to investigate, and how to investigate are decided at the top. Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch decided what to investigate and what not to investigate and how to investigate it. They were advised and answered directly to Barack Obama. Who do you really believe made the decision to say... investigate all of the major police departments? Some career person in the DOJ? Who made the decision "not" to thoroughly investigate Lerner and the IRS scandal.

These decisions will now lay with Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions. Those who used to answer to Holder/Lynch and ultimately Obama... now answer to Sessions and ultimately Trump.

If you do not believe that there is "politics" involved in how Holder and Lynch performed their duties... and if you not believe that there will be "politics" involved moving forward then you are naive.

Trump is now in charge of the DOJ, the CIA, the FBI, and the NSA. They answer to him. Do you understand how it's not exactly a good "career move" to "fight" with your boss?

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

When is he going to start acting like a President instead of a tweeing jack ass?

Words matter, when you are President. This narcissistic ass doesn't understand that.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

I don't moss a damn thing CH. You do. The Secretary of State, Justice are often partisan, but the professionals who run the CIA, NSA and others are NOT POLITICAL appointments. But your partisan blindfolds are too damn good.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

You completely contradict yourself.

"Trump is now in charge of the DOJ, the CIA, the FBI, and the NSA. They answer to him. Do you understand how it's not exactly a good "career move" to "fight" with your boss?"

The people in charge of those agencies, are obligated to tell the President the truth. They should not tune it down to make the boss happy.

C.H. Truth said...

Roger...

- The Director of the CIA is John Brennen. He will be replaced by Mike Pompeo.
- The director of Department of Homeland Security is Jeh Johnson, soon to be replaced by General Kelly.
- The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is being replaced by Senator Coats.
- The Director of the National Security agency is being replaced by Michael Rogers

These agency are run by political appointees, Roger... not "career professionals".

C.H. Truth said...

In other words Roger... none of the people currently fighting with the President elect will still be in their positions once he is President. Criticizing him after they are out of office will no longer be a case of him fighting with the intelligence community... but rather just civilians providing an opinion.

So there will be new people who will "serve at the pleasure" of President Trump just as Brennen, Johnson, Clapper and gang served at the pleasure of President Obama.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

I have more important things to deal with, family matters. I PM'd CH. Shit

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

So there will be new people who will "serve at the pleasure" of President Trump just as Brennen, Johnson, Clapper and gang served at the pleasure of President Obama.

That makes no difference. They have to tell him the fucking truth, whether or not he want's to hear it. But his such a narcissist he will not believe them. After all , he knows more than the generals on how to fight ISIS.

Partisan blindness is in your pipe.

Indy Voter said...

You're conflating criminal investigations with intelligence, C.H.

Intelligence agents work from the collection of data, then assembles it and ask "What does this mean?". The data collection, and much of the evaluation, is bottom up rather than top down. Sure, Trump or Pompeo could order specific countries be targeted by CIA staff, but the monitoring and analysis of everything should continue even if Trump or Pompeo aren't asking about it. And the analyses that go to the president are primarily prepared by the career professionals. The appointees, like Pompeo, generally review and edit the presentations, and may physically present this at times, but it's still just what their professionals provided.

The concern I have from Trump's public bashing of the intelligence agencies is, what will happen when Trump receives intelligence that goes against his preconceived opinions? Will he dismiss them privately just like he dismisses them publicly as president-elect? Will bearers of bad news be fired, or reassigned to dead end jobs, because their news displeased the Donald?

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

Indy, exactly.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

Russian president Vladimir Putin says allegations that Donald Trump may have met with prostitutes and done some unhygienic things in a Russian hotel suite are “utter nonsense.”

“People who order fakes of the type now circulating against the U.S. president-elect, who concoct them and use them in a political battle, are worse than prostitutes because they don’t have any moral boundaries at all,” Putin fired off on Russian state television Tuesday. “It highlights a significant degree of degradation of political elites in the West, including in the United States.”

Putin also pointed the finger at the Obama administration for trying to undermine Trump, and for fomenting doubt about the legitimacy of the U.S. election results — which is, incidentally, the exact same thing the U.S. intelligence community has accused Russia of doing. Putin had additional reasons, beyond America’s moral turpitude, for why those claims made in that leaked memo aren’t likely be true.

“When Trump came to Moscow, he was not a political figure, we were not even aware of his political ambitions,” Putin said, likely referring to Trump’s 2013 visit for the Miss Universe contest, even though Trump had flirted with a presidential run in 2012 and some other times before that. “Does somebody think that our secret services are chasing every American billionaire? Of course not. It is utter nonsense.”

The Russia leader also questioned whether it was believable that Trump would have hired sex workers. “[He is] someone who has been involved with beauty contests for many years and has met the most beautiful women in the world,” Putin explained. “I find it hard to believe that he rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world.”

“But,” Putin added, “I doubt Trump took that bait.”

C.H. Truth said...

With all due Respect Indy... someone decides what does and does not get investigated and what does and does not get followed up on. Someone (for instance) had to make a determination to "continue" to research and come up with theories on the hacking of the DNC and Hillary Campaigns. There was a report issued 8 days after the election to the intelligence committees of congress on the hacking of the DNC and the Hillary Campaign. That report was completely reworked after that point. Someone decided that it was a priority to change that report's conclusion.

Someone is setting the tone, determining priority, and ultimately deciding what is and is not important.

Trump's issues with the "intelligence community" has been very specific. Most of it has had to do with the leaking of information to the press regarding the specific allegations that Russia was in cahoots with Trump (or at least that has been the implication). Personally I believe that he sort of has a point. When the Washington Post is reporting on what is supposedly "top secret" information that he has not even been briefed on yet... you have a problem. If those situations continue, then there will be issues and I am guessing that heads will roll.

But again, the tone, the priority, the direction will come from the top. Ultimately the Presient and the various directors.

C.H. Truth said...

All that being said... Time will tell.

And I would be willing to bet a pretty penny that the nonsense that's going on today will be history, once there is new leadership, new direction, and new priorities.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

I have a simple question.

Why does the Coldheartedtruth support everything Donald J. Trump says and does?

Anonymous said...

Blogger Roger Amick said...
Trump is politicizing the intelligence agencies. He's accusing them as being partisan Democratic supporters.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

and for exhibit A supporting trump's position i give you mike morell. a hackmaster of partisan hacks and a jerk who joined the CIA in 1980. also known as the man who couldn't keep his bullshit straight when trying to determine the root cause of the terror attack in benghazi.

a clinton supporter through and through and a man who had no problem putting his politics before intelligence.

if you think there are not more morell's embedded within the CIA then you are a god damned fool.

KD, Winning is More FUN, Hillary on Meds again said...

I am going to show you how it is done, See someone like your kind asks a question.

A much smarter person then you, oh, like myself takes the time to answer it.

Why does the Coldheartedtruth support everything Donald J. Trump says and does? "The Mutt


A, He does not. He did not vote for him, and he has told you many a time, Trump was a better choice then Hillary, but still neither got his vote, that is after all is the Ultimate Support, get enough votes , win in enough states, become 45th President of this Divided OBomanNation.


Now get busy tell us how Hillary had a better economic plan ?

C.H. Truth said...

Why does the Coldheartedtruth support everything Donald J. Trump says and does?

A genius would be much more intuitive than this.

The major difference between you and I, your blog and mine... is that you parrot what others are saying, while I generally challenge much of the conventional wisdom.

Repeating the conventional wisdom is not interesting.
Finding a different way of looking at an issue is interesting.

This post is a great example. Donald Trump isn't making the argument I am making. So saying I "agree" with him is wrong. In fact, this particular argument has not been made by anyone I have seen so far, at least not in the manner in which I am making it.

The reality is that you look at these issues from a partisan viewpoint and it's impossible for you to see it in any other way. Therefor you assume (based on your own bias) that everyone is just as partisan as you... and that they see it through those "good vs bad" perceptions.

I am not "supporting" Donald Trump. In fact, my post neither condones or condemns his current back and forth with the intelligence community. My post simply makes the suggestion that his issues will probably "largely" go away once the chain of command goes through him, rather going through Obama.

Yes, I understand how that upsets your delicate sensitivities... because it implies that there is a degree of politics in the intelligence community, while you want to believe that the entire intelligence community is made up of "lifetime professionals". Moreover, the fact that I suggest that there is politics involved with the intelligence communities also undercuts much of the idea that Trump is fighting with the community as a whole, rather than with the brass at the top.

If there is one thing you have not figured out about me as of yet... you should really think about it. Your goal (again) is to repeat the talking points of the left (in almost every case) . My goal is to provide differing views when I can, but always to the degree that I feel there is a high change of me being "right".

It's why you have pretty much "never" predicted a Republican to win the Presidency going back to 2000 and therefor end up being wrong... whereas I predicted Bush, Obama, Obama, and suggested that 2016 was too close to call.

You like to be partisan.
I like to be correct.

opie said...

and for exhibit A supporting trump's position i give you mike morels."

So in ratty world, a former employee of the CIA is the basis of your lack of reasoning that the current CIA is compromised and biased. Gee, kinda like trump forgiving the current director not leaking the BS he originally claimed. But, the damage is done, just like all those trump supporters still believing obama was born in kenya. Can't fix stupid, like you, evah. idiots

opie said...

while I generally challenge much of the conventional wisdom

Like your hockey friend as a source, russia didn't do it, all the polls are wrong because you say so. Those are certainly challenges to those who actually think.. Oh well.

caliphate4vr said...

Don't miss this post-election fire sale as the Clinton Foundation closes its doors and lays off its non-unionized employees. Everything & everyone must go!

*All starving Third-World children are half off, barely used.
*Deep discounts on African and Middle Eastern dictators.
*Speaking fees $200,000 now only $20,000.
*No refunds on pre-election deposits.
*Government influence all sold out.
*Uranium deals by appointment only.
*Now available in all totalitarian states.
*Doors close on 4/15/2017.

Don't worry, it's all legit: Filing with NYS Department of Labor

opie said...

In spite of some recent polls showing a decent approval rate.....donnie still won in spite of losing by 3%. Oh well, I'm sure CH can prove otherwise. What was W's rating when he left office??? 20% or so, and you still hold those days as glory for the R's.

Approval for Obama climbs to 60 percent, Post-ABC poll finds

opie said...

The People's Cube - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People's_Cube
The People's Cube (TPC) is a United States-based satirical conservative Web site that was launched April 1, 2005, as a sequel to Communists for Kerry.

Great source again, pauline.....Seems to me you are desperate to demean the clintons in spite of them not being in the white house Maybe donnie can tweet something equally as satirical. Oh well thinking is not your forte.

caliphate4vr said...

But eating is your forte, fatty

Humor flies right over pie stuffed face

Anonymous said...

The major difference between you and I, your blog and mine...
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

is the number of roger's beloved page views.

here: 5,838 this week.

alky blog: maybe 400. usually hovering in the 300's.

and i haven't put up a post over there in weeks, so i'm not the one destroying his traffic.



Loretta said...

C.H. TruthJanuary 18, 2017 at 8:29 AM
Why does the Coldheartedtruth support everything Donald J. Trump says and does?

A genius would be much more intuitive than this........."

Well said.

Anonymous said...



stroke victims usually lose the ability to grasp satire.

d0pie is their poster child.

Loretta said...

"and i haven't put up a post over there in weeks, so i'm not the one destroying his traffic."

You never destroyed the traffic on the trash blog.

That honor goes to Roger and James.

C.H. Truth said...

Like your hockey friend as a source, russia didn't do it,

My friend who owns his own network security company stated the same thing every IT expert I know stated. The information released by Homeland Security did not prove what they claimed it did. Secondly, that at best, what they had is a guess (which I still would offer is more likely than not, absolutely true).

My statement from the post was this:

I would definitely expect to see more evidence than what has been provided. If this is all they have, then it's woefully short of the sort of proof that should be required to take international action.


https://coldheartedtruthblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/dnc-and-clinton-hacking-update.html

In other words, the report they released publicly did not prove what they claimed. I always suggested that there may be other evidence. We cannot know what we cannot know. But either way, we acted against another country without providing anyone any "real" evidence of malfeasance. Neither our public or the international community was provided any evidence. If I had to bet the farm on whether or not they have "more" actual empirical tangible evidence that they are hiding, I would still bet against it.

opie said...

My friend who owns his own network security company stated the same thing every IT expert I know stated. T

LOL. Anecdotal sources and 2 bucks will get you a cup of coffee!!!! Seems to me every one of your experts do not have the data trump saw and who has accepted the findings. Again, keep swallowing CH, you are doing it like Loretta. There is plenty of evidence his polls are crashing, except for you. Your history of being correct is as good as krugmans. LOL Keep betting on foolhardy obsessions, because that is what you are doing and all you are doing is rationalizing your own shortcomings.,.

opie said...

rrb said...


stroke victims usually lose the ability to grasp satire.\

While brain damaged drunkards who flunked out of ag school and salesman think that is funny.

opie said...

caliphate4vr said...
But eating is your forte, fatty

LOL pauline....your grasp of humor is as about expansive as your ability to write.

opie said...

Another record year in spite of CH saying otherwise.

For the third year in a row, Earth has experienced the warmest surface temperatures in global data extending back to 1880. In its annual climate summary released on Wednesday, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) calculated that the average global temperature across both land and ocean surfaces for 2015 was 1.69°F (0.94°C) above the 20th-century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F). This made 2016 the warmest calendar year on record, coming in 0.07°F (0.04°C) ahead of the record set just last year. Using a slightly different technique, NASA also confirmed that 2016 was the warmest year in this 136-year period.

Last year was also the warmest on record for satellite-based estimates of temperature through the lowest five miles of the atmosphere,

C.H. Truth said...

Sounds serious Opie... lot's of acronyms, numbers, and zeros after decimal points.

Perhaps the President elect will find all of this this an important part of his agenda. (ahem)

Loretta said...

Crack kills.

Loretta said...

"stroke victims usually lose the ability to grasp satire."

Smoking crack doesn't help.....

caliphate4vr said...

Why would foreign governments suddenly lose interest in the charitable work the Clinton Foundation purported to do? They wouldn’t, unless the Clinton Foundation and CGI had existed to give foreign governments and businessmen a way to curry favor with a future president from the beginning. The April shutdown, then, makes complete sense: Why keep operating if there’s no influence left to peddle?

Commonsense said...

Damn appropriate they used the score from House of Cards.

Anonymous said...




Why would foreign governments suddenly lose interest in the charitable work the Clinton Foundation purported to do?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

trump burned their influence factory to the ground and they have no way to rebuild it.


Anonymous said...



howler of the decade:

“You are not supposed to be sycophants, you are supposed to be skeptics.”

-- skeets 0linsky to the white house press corp in his farewell blather today.

KD, China Trade - Obama skooled said...

Cali , you links to the Fire at the Clinton Crime Family Foundation is funny as hell.

They have 100's of Millions of dollars, when they close the door to they split it 3 ways, 1/3 surly has to go to that rizing star in the TV new business Chealsea , Right?

opie said...

Blogger Loretta Russo said...
"stroke victims usually lose the ability to grasp satire."

Smoking crack doesn't help.....

Wow loser, You really are a wit!!! Thanx for being you. LOL

wphamilton said...

Hell yes Trump has an issue with the Intelligence community and it's not just personal. People with his brand of world-view have had since at least the early 90's, maybe even earlier, a deep distrust of both the motives and the methods of US Intelligence. Not just getting the information wrong, such as missing the 9-11 threat and imaginary WMD in Iraq, but even before those disasters many of us felt like Intelligence had their own agendas which they advanced through illegal means.

I believe that Trump was one of those people, and his opinions haven't changed now that he's President.