Donald Trump’s second term has clearly been challenging for U.S. intelligence agencies. It was just a few months ago, for example, when the leaders of the National Intelligence Council were fired because they produced accurate information the president didn’t like.
That coincided with reports of a Trump appointee trying to politicize intelligence, the president’s reluctance to participate in intelligence briefings, and the White House’s recent decision to fire the leadership of the National Security Agency, a key intelligence gathering department, as well as the National Security Council’s director for intelligence.
And then, of course, there’s the downsizing. NBC News reported:
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said today that her office will oversee a 40% reduction in ‘missions, functions and personnel’ by the end of the fiscal year, framing the move as an attempt to make the ‘bloated’ agency more ‘agile, effective and efficient.’ … A news release indicated the cuts will save taxpayers more than $700 million annually.
The New York Times published a related report noting as part of the reorganization of Gabbard’s team, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is “shrinking the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which tracked efforts by adversarial countries to manipulate U.S. elections.”
The timing is remarkable: On the heels of Gabbard pushing a bizarre conspiracy theory about Russian efforts to manipulate a U.S. election, the DNI has decided the United States should deprioritize an intelligence office responsible for monitoring foreign adversaries targeting U.S. elections.
What’s more, Gabbard’s announcement follows related efforts within the intelligence community, including an announcement about a “major downsizing” at the CIA.
The Washington Post reported in May that current and former U.S. officials have warned of “a counterintelligence risk, noting that having thousands of potentially disgruntled intelligence personnel out of work presents a ripe recruiting target for adversary nations’ spy services.” Even before Trump was sworn in for his first term, he routinely and publicly derided U.S. intelligence agencies, questioning their findings and value. Once in the White House, the Republican’s animosity toward his own country’s intelligence community seemed to intensify: Trump has demonstrated an unfortunate habit of belittling, disregarding, contradicting and occasionally even feuding with U.S. spy agencies. In his second term, he and his team appear to be going even further. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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