Friday, January 6, 2017

Trump Plans to Shrink CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence


It appears that Trump plans on shrinking the CIA and the office of the Director of National Intelligence:
Damian Paletta and Julian E. Barnes (Jan. 4, 2017). Donald Trump Plans Revamp of Top U.S. Spy Agency. The Wall Street Journal, http://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmakers-officials-frown-on-donald-trumps-dismissal-of-u-s-intelligence-1483554450 President-elect works on restructuring Office of the Director of National Intelligence, tweets again his doubts that Russia hacked Democrats

WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump, a harsh critic of U.S. intelligence agencies, is working with advisers on a plan that would restructure and pare back the nation’s top spy agency, people familiar with the planning said.

The move is prompted by his belief that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has become bloated and politicized, these people said.
The Director of National Intelligence is described by Wikipedia as the principal advisor to the President and the executive offices of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council:
From Wikipedia: The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is the United States government official – subject to the authority, direction, and control of the President – required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to:  
Serve as principal advisor to the President and his executive offices of the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council about intelligence matters related to national security; 
Serve as head of the sixteen-member United States Intelligence Community; and
Direct and oversee the National Intelligence Program.

On July 30, 2008, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13470,[3] amending Executive Order 12333 to strengthen the DNI's role.[4] Further, by Presidential Policy Directive 19 signed by Barack Obama in October 2012, the DNI was given overall responsibility for Intelligence Community whistleblowing and source protection.
I find it very curious that Trump is going to shrink this office and the CIA, but no mention at all of the FBI.

I am reminded of Charles Hugh Smith's suggestion that the deep state is at war: see http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2016/12/is-deep-state-at-war-with-itself.html


4 comments:

  1. Reuters covers joint report produced by CIA, NSA, and FBI on Russian cyber-campaign:

    Yara Bayoumy and Warren Strobel (Fri Jan 6, 2017 ). U.S. intel report: Putin directed cyber campaign to help Trump. Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-cyber-idUSKBN14Q1T8

    Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to help Republican Donald Trump's electoral chances by discrediting Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign, U.S. intelligence agencies said in an assessment on Friday.

    Russia's objectives were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate former Secretary of State Clinton, make it harder for her to win and harm her presidency if she did, an unclassified report released by the top U.S. intelligence agency said….

    ...The report was produced by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency.

    Also on Friday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated U.S. election infrastructure as critical infrastructure, widening the options the government has to protect voting machines from cyber attacks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think in part this was another wan hope to stop Trump when Congress voted to accept the Electors. It seems very unlikely that Wikileaks would off a 20k$ for info regarding the murder of Seth Rich unless they knew something very intimtely related to the DNC leak. And according to Dr. Steve Pieczenik the Podesta emails were leaked by those in the intelligence agencies that did not want Hillary and her loose ways around classified information. The FBI may in fact be under staffed given the ISIS in America problem that will unfold. If only one percent of the Muslim world are apt to become jihadists that would be over ten million. The Koran clearly supports violent treatment of infidels. And we know that in spite of the New Testament Christianity managed some very violent behavior over many centuries.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do not think the Russians had anything to so with Hillary's loss. She was a very bad candidate and ran a bad campaign. People were and are sick of her political machine. Media and others suck off the sensationalism. It also creates chaos so democrats and republicans can obfuscate their beholdings to special interests.

    ReplyDelete
  4. View all this the way Shakespeare would and imagine a series of plays covering the Election,the interregnum which we are still in, and finally the Inauguration. There is great deal of high tension. And the assembly of characters. His plays are full of evil doers like Iago and the two Sisters in Lear. This is the same material he used in his plays; only the outward appearances have changed. Otherwise we have all the elements. Treachery,deception, pandering, envy, fear, anger, pride . . . Kellyann Conway is a great character, and of course Trump. Hillary and Podesta as their counterparts. Who is Obama? Richard the Third? Macbeth?

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.