OUR PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO LIE & DISMISS KEY INTEL PROS

...Trump's real image to most of America

President Trump has lied to America about the pandemic and he has replaced key intelligence pros with his political “yes’ men and women.

The United States and the world, faces a historic threat to its health, well-being and economy. The global covid-19 pandemic challenges all of us including the federal government.  As we collectively fight this deadly disease, the intelligence institutions that help protect us all from current and future threats, they are also under attack from a relentless enemy.  That enemy is the current leader of our domestic politics. We cannot let the covid-19 pandemic be a cover for the deeply destructive path being pursued by the current president and his administration.

The most recent example of his attack on our government is his continuing dismissal of career intelligence professionals.  These are officials who have ably served both Republican and Democratic administrations regardless of their personal politics. Specifically,this is regarding the removal last week of the leadership of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). The NCTC, though it is not as recognized as its intelligence community counterparts such as the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency.  But it is one of the crown-jewel creations of the United States’ established after the-9/11 attack.

The NCTC was created to “connect the dots” of the nation’s counterterrorism and operational planning.  The NCTC brings together representatives from across the federal government to maintain critical watch lists, to monitor threats in real time and to make sure that the disparate elements of the large, federal bureaucracy responds in a coordinated fashion.  In short, since 9/11, the NCTC has helped for counterterrorism to do what the nation’s government is now trying to piece together against its new viral threat.

Although we may be heartened to see President Trump nominate an experienced Special Operations officer to serve as the next Senate-confirmed director of the NCTC, we are deeply dismayed as to why he would simultaneously gut the center’s leadership of critical institutional knowledge.

The NCTC’s just-dismissed acting director, Russell Travers, began his career as an Army intelligence officer more than 40 years ago. He stood up as the leader of the NCTC’s previous organization while the embers of 9/11's Ground Zero still smoldered.  He built the terrorism watch list up from a set of index cards, to the envy of countries around the world.  It should be noted, this was the model for the American president’s own watch list to screen travelers to the United States for threats, other than terrorism.  Travers, and his deputy, also a career National Security Agency officer, were the epitome of what we strive for in national security.  Nonpartisan experts, who serve the president and the American people with no regard to personal party politics.

Now both are gone from the American Intel scene, and no one has been named to replace them.  They will be replaced by acting heads who will undoubtedly know less and who will be more beholden to the nation’s politicized leadership. The next acting heads might be gone in a matter of months if they don’t seem to be loyal to the president. In the meantime, will who manages the critical security tasks ensure that the government-wide counter-terrorism structure remains well integrated?  I wouldn’t bet on it.

Even amid public health concerns, we should be concerned about how deeply destructive these removals are to our nation’s safety.  Please understand, this is not about protecting a few senior officers. These removals send a dangerous message across the intelligence community.  Every current officer understands that when they speak truth-to-power in this administration. it is an immediate career-killer.  Every young recruit will conclude that to join the intelligence community is no different from signing up for any other political element of the current federal bureaucracy.  Countless talented young Americans will decide that federal service, indeed public service, is not a worthy calling, but a political calling.

Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias says states and Congress need to act now to ensure all votes count during the general election. These changes are overdue. We do not suggest that post-9/11 reforms should be etched in stone.  All healthy institutions should evolve with changing circumstances, and the NCTC, as well as the rest of government must adapt to normal changes.  But the gutting of the intelligence community’s experienced professionals is not reform. It is pure politics.  It’s that simple. It is extremely destructive to our nation, and it puts us all at risk.

Congress must require the strictest of oversight to preserve what is left of the country’s prized, apolitical intelligence community.  Post-9/11 reforms happened for an obvious reason: The US bureaucracy wasn’t prepared for a new era of threats. Indeed, the NCTC was a model of how the government should work in close coordination and unifying the response to a crisis.  The NCTC should be providing the critical lessons for today’s challenge.

Today, the Trump administration’s continued politicization of intelligence, pulls the nation further from its goal.  Th president must stop dismissing key, apolitical intelligence professionals, as it makes us more vulnerable to the next national security threat.

And that is regardless of from who, or where it comes from.

Copyright G. Ater 2020