Tuesday, May 16, 2017

That Sudden Silence? That's the Intelligence Network Shutting Down.

Loose Lips Sink Ships

Do you remember the uproar when word got out that America's intelligence types had warned their colleagues abroad to be careful about what secrets they shared with Washington because they couldn't vouch that the incoming president was beyond Moscow's reach? The Republicans were outraged. How dare they impugn the integrity of the president-elect?

Well that, as they say, was then. This is now and by "now" I mean four months into this presidency and Trump is mired in a scandal due to his apparent leaking to Russia's foreign minister and its ambassador of secret information conveyed from a trusted ally.


U.S. intelligence officials reportedly warned their Israeli counterparts to exert caution in sharing top secret information with Donald Trump’s administration for fear of it being passed to Russia and then to Moscow’s ally and Israel’s arch-enemy, Iran.

Discussions between U.S. and Israeli security services prior to Trump’s inauguration on January 20 gave rise to concerns that sensitive intelligence might exchange hands between him and the Russian government, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported in January.

The paper published the report amid accusations of links between Trump’s campaign team and the Russian government. Now, just four months into Trump’s presidency, it has emerged that the commander in chief may have divulged highly classified intelligence to the Russian government.


Whether the report is accurate or not, analysts are clear that the disclosure of Trump’s intelligence slip to the Russians will cause further damage for U.S. intelligence partnerships around the world, where concerns were already present.

“I think very basically I just think it’s going to impact trust issues that have already been negatively affected by Trump,” says Miriam Goldman, analyst at Middle East-based security consultancy LeBec International. “I think there’s going to be a lot of internal questioning about whether or not sharing information with the U.S. can continue.”


The point is clear. Trump is not to be trusted.  And, when the president of the United States can't be trusted, America can't be trusted.


Update:

The New York Times reports that the state secrets Trump passed on to the Russians came from Israel.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I trust Trump more than these IA spooks. Trump is accountable to the American people.

These shadowy characters, and their masters, whomever they might be specifically, are accountable to none and it shows in all the acts of evil and crimes against humanity they have perpetrated post-WW2: from interfering in elections, to tanking economies, to overthrowing democratically-elected governments, to invading nations for egregious reasons, to summarily executing 'enemy combatant' suspects, to torturing dissidents, to bombing civilians, to training death squads. Jesus.

Trump looks to be sharing intel with the Russians to cooperate in the fight against the terrorists in Syria. That's what he said he would do. Perhaps our Deep State betters would prefer to continue to arm them.

That Trump doesn't appear to be interested in MIC payola is a big plus on my spreadsheet. I say give him a Nobel Peace Prize.

The Mound of Sound said...


Well that's certainly an interesting and generous narrative, Anon.

Anonymous said...

Trump hasn't been pleasing the Adelson wing of the GOP lately. I hear one of Trump's (Bannon's?) staff recently poured salt onto an old wound...

In a bitter diplomatic incident, a senior member of the US delegation making preparations for Donald Trump’s visit to Israel next week angrily rejected a request that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompany the president when he visits the Western Wall, and then sniped at his Israeli counterparts that the Western Wall is “not your territory. It’s part of the West Bank.”

I wonder if revealing Trump's intelligence gaffe with the Russians is payback?

Cap

The Mound of Sound said...

Christ, Cap, who can tell any longer? I can't.

Anonymous said...

Whether the report is accurate or not, analysts are clear that the disclosure of Trump’s intelligence slip to the Russians will cause further damage for U.S. intelligence partnerships around the world...
Eh?
A doublespeak a.k.a. as fake news. I expect better from you Mound.

Today at 9 a.m. on CBC news heard the same utter nonsense spewed by a female bozo: "Even if reports of divulging secret intelligence are not true this will have serious repercussions".
Fake news at its best...
A..non

John B. said...

"Fake news at its best ..."

The statements seem to allow that the accuracy of the report(s) hasn't been determined. I haven't made any conclusions based on either of them. Or at least I don't think I have. Have I been duped by fake news? Is there some assumption buried in the conditional that I've unwittingly accepted?

I guess the best fake news is really hard to spot. If the report(s) turn out to be accurate, what kind of news is it? Or doesn't it matter?

Anonymous said...

"Trump is accountable...to the American people...Nobel Peace Prize..."
Is this satire? It'd be funny if it weren't so blindly f'd up...

Anonymous said...

Please, Anonymous, refrain from invoking the name of my
Sweet Jesus, in your vile commentary.

I hear Satan's available.