Experts run roughshod throughout every department of the federal government. Anytime there’s a question about any issue — security, foreign policy, the economy, elections, border walls, you name it — there’s an expert somewhere who factually knows the answer to any question about any of these. Today we will look at a few of those, specifically U.S. Intelligence Agencies.
You may have noticed the heads of the leading U.S. Intelligence Agencies just testified before Congress about the current status of the U.S. regarding all intelligence matters domestically and around the World. Before we look at a few of their findings, let’s look at a few findings of previous intelligence officials — “experts” — and compare those to todays.
Intelligence Expert Findings
There’s no better place to start than with the President of the United States. Remember when then-candidate Trump was griping that Russians were influencing the 2016 election in favor of his opponent? Everyone in D.C. laughed at Trump about those allegations, even President Obama — so much so that he went to the press to denigrate Mr. Trump for claiming U.S. elections could possibly be rigged:
We all “know” that the Russians did everything they could to impact the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton and for her opponent: Donald Trump. After all, Vladimir Putin knew Russia would do better with his good buddy in the White House instead of that brazen bastion of truthfulness and justice as president — Hillary Clinton. After all, Trump promised in his campaign to take the U.S. back to its former prominence as having the strongest and most powerful military on Earth, to force Russia to get out of Ukraine, and to stay out of the Middle East. Hillary, on the other hand, had just supervised the sale of massive amounts of U.S. uranium to a Russian company owned by Russia and did so through a Canadian company to “launder” the transaction.
“Russia preferred Trump to Hillary.” Poppycock!”
In July of 2017, TruthNewsNetwork published a story about this very thing. Here’s just a portion of that story:
“There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America’s elections…There is no evidence that has happened in the past, or that there are instances that that could happen this time…So I’d advise Mr. Trump to stop whining.”Barack Obama, October 2016
One of two things is apparent: either Barack Obama ignored the “real” news he had received from the Intelligence Community two months before saying the above, or the “real” news was not real at all, but “fake news.” Stating either one of those two to be correct would be pure speculation on my part. But one thing is certain: RussiaGate is alive and kicking. Whether “real” or “fake,” it has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars as multiple investigations by Congress, the FBI, and now Special Counsel Robert Mueller are engaged and all aggressively pursuing any evidence of collusion by anyone affiliated with Donald Trump or even the President himself with the Russians.
I have asked this question before, but its significance bears its repeating: with the most elaborate, most well equipped, most proficient intelligence gathering capabilities on the face of the Earth, is it plausible to believe at this point almost a year into RussiaGate not a single shred of evidence of Russian collusion by the Trump Organization has been leaked to and/or unearthed by the Press? Certainly in this 24/7 news cycle in which we live (that has turned into the 24/7 “Leak” cycle), if there was any evidence of collusion, we would certainly know about it. Further, I hear every day this statement from multiple news sources: “Every Intelligence Agency has confirmed the Russians tried to hack the 2016 Presidential election.” THAT IS NOT TRUE! Even the NY Times corrected that fake story by stating that just 2 of the 16 intelligence agencies had participated in the preparation of a report that was then given to the Department of National Intelligence (DNI) about Russian hacking. Later it was revealed that 13 handpicked intelligence employees prepared that report. No big deal? Normally when such a report is prepared, several HUNDRED intelligence specialists are involved!
Even if their conclusion was legitimate and accurate, where is the evidence? When I ask that question to people in a position of authority, all I am told is that “the evidence of Russian election interference is classified since it’s part of an ongoing investigation.” Really? Are we expected to believe that ANY evidence at all of ANYTHING illegal in the political world of Washington D.C. can possibly remain secret — no matter if classified? Don’t tell the news media that — they’d go out business not having any “fake news” from “anonymous source leaks” to report.
Based on simple logic, I have over this past weekend — in the midst of numerous hours of exhaustive investigation looking for Russian election hacking evidence — made a blockbuster conclusion: there was NO Russian attempts to hack into the 2016 election that had not been attempted in previous American elections over and over again. And the Obama Administration knew about them for years and did nothing about them.
My conclusion about President Obama’s “expert” opinion? Either his experts were incorrect, politically motivated, or HE purposely misstated the truth. You decide.
The U.S. Intelligence: Past
It’s doubtful that few Americans (if any) feel really confident in the reliability and veracity of the intelligence that is given to us from the leadership of U.S. intelligence agencies. Through the last two years, time and time again we hear, see and read reports of leadership in the FBI, CIA, DNI, and NSA give Americans “expert” opinions based on information provided them that is always classified. It seems that when they couch that presentation with the term “classified,” we are intrigued to hear what they say — like it’s a secret that they shouldn’t tell us, but because we’re Americans they’ll push the envelope and go ahead and tell us.
Intelligence agency heads have been falling to the wayside during the Trump Administration. These experts have been fired or forced to resign just from the FBI:
- James Comey, director (fired)
- Andrew McCabe, deputy director (fired)
- Peter Strzok, counterintelligence expert (fired)
- Lisa Page, attorney (demoted; resigned)
- James Rybicki, chief of staff (resigned)
- James Baker, general counsel (resigned)
- Mike Kortan, assistant director for public affairs (resigned)
- Josh Campbell, special assistant to James Comey (resigned)
- James Turgal, executive assistant director (resigned)
- Greg Bower, assistant director for the office of congressional affairs (resigned)
- Michael Steinbach, executive assistant director (resigned)
- John Giacalone, executive assistant director (resigned)
Then there are these from the Department of Justice (non-FBI):
- Sally Yates, deputy attorney general (fired)
- Bruce Ohr, associate deputy attorney general (twice demoted)
- David Laufman, counterintelligence chief (resigned)
- Rachel Brand, deputy attorney general (resigned)
- Trisha Beth Anderson, the office of legal counsel for FBI (demoted or reassigned*)
- John P. Carlin, assistant attorney general (resigned)
- Peter Kadzik, assistant attorney general, congressional liaison (resigned)
- Mary McCord, acting assistant attorney general (resigned)
- Matthew Axelrod, principal assistant to the deputy attorney general (resigned)
- Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney, SDNY (fired along with 45 other U.S. Attorneys)
- Sharon McGowan, civil rights division (resigned)
- Diana Flynn, litigation director for LGBTQ civil rights (resigned)
- Vanita Gupta, civil rights division (resigned)
- Joel McElvain, assistant branch director of the civil division (resigned)
And there are several others since these. I wonder why that is?
It seems that these experts have been caught up in some very nefarious activities. (In the written story on our website you can see the reason for these experts’ departures explained next to their names in the list)
The U.S. Intelligence: Today
Congress invited the current heads of U.S. intelligence agencies to sit and discuss the state of intelligence in today’s Trump Administration. In that meeting, various members of Congress asked those intelligence officials to respond to specific intelligence and foreign policy positions taken publicly by President Trump. (Remember: these folks are the bulwark of American Intelligence) The topics were Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and Isis. (Note: pay close attention to their disagreement with the President almost across the board)
On Afghanistan
What Trump tweeted
“Negotiations are proceeding well in Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting. … Fighting continues but the people of Afghanistan want peace in this never ending war. We will soon see if talks will be successful.”
What Coats said
“We assess neither the Afghan government nor the Taliban will be able to gain a strategic advantage in the Afghan war in the coming war year, even if coalition support remains at current levels. However, current efforts to achieve an agreement with the Taliban and decisions on a possible withdrawal of U.S. troops could play a key role in shaping the direction of the country in the coming years.”
On Iran
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Ministry of Defence has published a video purportedly showing the launch of a new cruise missile, saying it has a 1,350-kilometre (840-mile) range. In the 37-second video on the ministry website, the launch was shown from different angles with the projectile finally hitting somewhere in the desert. Iran has missile capability of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), far enough to reach archenemy Israel and U.S. military bases in the region.
What Trump tweeted
“The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but … a source of potential danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. Their economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!”
What King and Haspel said
King: “But since our departure from the deal they have abided by the terms.
Haspel: “Yes, they are making some preparations that would increase their ability to take a step back if they make that decision. So at the moment technically they are in compliance.
On North Korea
What Trump tweeted
“North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with the U.S. No testing, getting remains, hostages returned. Decent chance of Denuclearization. … Time will tell what will happen with North Korea, but at the end of the previous administration, the relationship was horrendous and very bad things were about to happen. Now a whole different story. I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un shortly. Progress being made – a big difference!”
What Coats said
“Regarding North Korea, the regime has halted its provocative behavior related to its (weapons of mass destruction) program. North Korea has not conducted any nuclear-capable missile or nuclear tests in more than a year and it has dismantled some of its nuclear infrastructure. As well, Kim Jong Un continues to demonstrate openness to the denuclearization and of the Korean Peninsula.
“Having said that, we currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival. Our assessment is bolstered by our observations of some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization.
“While we assess that sanctions and exports have been effective and largely maintained, North Korea seeks to mitigate the effects of the U.S.-led pressure campaign through diplomatic engagement, counter pressure against the sanction’s regime, and direct sanctions evasion.”
On Isis
What Trump tweeted
“When I became President, ISIS was out of control in Syria & running rampant. Since then tremendous progress made, especially over the last 5 weeks. Caliphate will soon be destroyed, unthinkable two years ago.”
What Coats said
“While ISIS is nearing territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria, the group has returned to its guerrilla warfare roots while continuing to plot attacks and direct its supporters worldwide. ISIS is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria. …
“While we have defeated the caliphate with a couple of little villages left, we should not underestimate the ability of terrorist groups, particularly ISIS and affiliated groups with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, that they are operating not simply on what takes place on the battlefield that gives them strength or weakness, but they are operating on the basis of a theocracy, a theology, an ideology that we will continue to see for perhaps years ahead in various places of the world. …
“ISIS will continue to be a threat to the United States, and we’re going to have to continue, as Director Haspel said, to keep our eyes on that and our interest in the realization that this terrorist threat is going to continue for some time.”
Summary
I would love for American intelligence to be motivated by just one thing: THE TRUTH. Unfortunately, it has become clearer and clearer that former and current intelligence agency heads are not necessarily driven by that one thing. In today’s Washington, it is apparent that much of what we see and hear is driven at least in part by political motivation.
Fired FBI Director James Comey illustrates how intelligence experts are polluted by political and personal agenda. Comey totally botched the email server investigation of Candidate Clinton, violated FBI and DOJ protocol in multiple ways, and then committed multiple felony violations of his OWN mishandling of classified information and documents.
John Brennan was caught lying under oath to Congress. James Clapper took the Steele Dossier to CNN (where he had just signed on as a “contributing expert” even though he knew its sourcing was funded in part by the Clinton Campaign and that most of it was unverified), and in doing so violated multiple regulations and DOJ operating procedures.
We could go on and on and on. But let’s just cap this off by making this position statement: Americans not only “Want” the best intelligence apparatus in the world, Americans “Deserve” the best intelligence apparatus in the world. And Americans no longer believe that we have that!
It’s because of a combination of things. But all of those “things” boil down to this: People. Intelligence operatives are people. And people are each different from other people. But in Washington D.C., we have made it abundantly clear, the driving force of most there are power and all that power can bring to them personally.
No, everyone in intelligence is not dishonest, self-serving, and politically driven. But many are. And because of that, Congress and the White House are going to have to in unity re-create the way American Intelligence operates, and not from the top down. As this president has said over and over again, the workers in Intelligence are rock solid on the most part. The tragedy that strikes again and again always seems to originate at the top of each of these agencies: the “experts.” Many of those have been exposed and have been eliminated. But what remains in their wakes are all those processes that allowed them to weave their webs of deceit. Those must be eliminated.
So, President Trump, many Americans hope you have 6 years to correct these problems. But you may have just two more years to tackle them. I doubt I need to say this, but you just need to roll your sleeves up and get at it.
And one more thing: you have smartly from afar allowed Special Counsel Robert Mueller the distance and freedom to run his traps trying to trap you. That has been a great decision for you. I encourage you to let it play out. It is fairly obvious that he’s on a dead-end street. Let him crash.
Democrats will NEVER accept that he — an “expert” does not and will not find any collusion between your organization and Russia regarding the 2016 election. In their “looking,” his group is trying to create some process crimes with which they can charge those in your organization and possibly even you. Let them look. They’re only thinning your air and spending millions of OUR dollars in their doing so!
It’s worth it to us just to watch them continue to run in circles. That seems to be what today’s “experts” do!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
