The poisonous relationship between Trump and the keepers of American secrets

WASHINGTON – After four years of anger from the president Donald Trump against its intelligence services by publishing confidential information in Twitter and announcing that he trusted the word of the president Vladimir Putin of Russia on that of his own spies, perhaps the least surprising thing he did during his last days in office is that he sent boxes of sensitive material from the White House to his Florida waterfront building.

The FBI’s search for Mar-a-Lago on Monday was the dramatic conclusion to years of turmoil between Trump and US law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

From Trump’s frequent invectives against a decided “deep state” weaken his presidency right down to his dismissive attitude towards highly confidential information which he considered his personal property and which he would occasionally use to further his political agenda, the relationship between the American secret keepers and the irregular president they served was the most poisoned of modern times.

Trump’s behavior has generated such distrust within intelligence agencies that officials who have provided him with confidential information from time to time have made the mistake. hide some details confidential.

For a long time it has been common practice for the CIA not to provide presidents with some of the most sensitive information, such as the names of human sources from the agency.

But Douglas London, who was the CIA’s top counterterrorism official during the Trump administration, said officials were even more cautious on the information they provided to Trump because some saw the same president as a risk for safety.

“We’ve definitely taken into account ‘what harm could it do if you let this slip?'” Said London, who wrote a book about her time at the agency titled “The recruiter“.

During an Oval Office meeting with senior Russian officials within months of his presidency, Trump revealed highly classified information on an Islamic State plot that the government of Israel had provided to the United States, putting Israeli sources at risk and angering American intelligence officials.

Months later, the CIA decided to remove from Moscow a high-ranking Kremlin agent it had cultivated for years, partly due to concerns that the Trump White House was a leaking ship.

In August 2019, Trump received information about an explosion in a space launch facility in Iran.

He was so fascinated by a confidential satellite photo of the explosion that he wanted to post it on Twitter right away.

Participants responded by saying that making the high-resolution photo public could give opponents an idea of ​​the sophisticated capabilities US surveillance.

He posted the photo anyway, adding a message that the US played no role in the explosion, but wished Iran “best wishes and good luck” in finding out what caused it.

As he told a US official of his decision:

“I have the authority to declassify I can do what I want.

Two years earlier, Trump used Twitter to defend himself against media reports that he had finished CIA program to arm the Syrian rebels, effectively revealing a classified program to what were then his over 33 million Twitter followers.

If there is no origin story to explain Trump’s antipathy towards spy agencies, the 2017 US intelligence assessment of the Kremlin’s efforts to sabotage the 2016 presidential election and Russia’s preference for Trump, perhaps they played the most important role.

Trump saw the document as a insultwritten by his “deep state” enemies to challenge the legitimacy of his election and presidency.

Trump’s efforts to undermine the rating became a motive in the early years of his presidency, culminating in a July 2018 summit in Helsinki with Putin.

During a joint press conference, Putin denied that Russia had any role in electoral sabotage and Trump came to his defense.

“They think it’s Russia,” Trump said, referring to US intelligence officials and adding, “I see no reason why this is the case.”

Trump frequently targeted intelligence officials for public statements he thought undermined his foreign policy goals.

In January 2019, senior officials testified before Congress that the Islamic state remained a persistent threat, which North Korea it would keep looking for nuclear weapons and things like that Iran He showed no sign of actively wanting to build a bomb, essentially contradicting things the president had said publicly.

Trump lashed out, saying on Twitter that “Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran.

They’re wrong! “” Maybe Intelligence should back to school! ” she wrote.

Trump was not the first American president to view his intelligence services as enemy territory.

In 1973, Richard Nixon fired Richard Helms, his intelligence chief, after refusing to accept the watergate coverand set James Schlesinger to work with the mission to bring the CIA into his flock.

Speaking to a group of senior analysts on his first day, Schlesinger made an obscene comment about what the CIA had done to Nixon and asked him to stop.

Chris Whipple, an author who cites Schlesinger’s anecdote in his book “The Spymasters”, said there is a long history of effort between presidents and their intelligence chiefs, but that “Trump was really in a league of his own in thinking the CIA and the agencies wanted to take him.”

The exact nature of the documents Trump left the White House with remains a mystery, with some former officials claiming Trump usually was. hard copies were not provided of classified reports.

This had less to do with security issues than with how Trump preferred to receive his security briefings.

Unlike some of his predecessors, who read and digest voluminous intelligence reports every day, Trump generally received information. oral.

But for those tasked with protecting secrets, there may not have been a greater challenge than the spa where Trump spent much of his time as president and where so many boxes of classified material were stored after he left office. .

In addition to its members, Mar-a-Lago is also open to guests of members, who often interact with Trump during his frequent trips to the club.

Security professionals considered this agreement ripe for exploitation by a spy service foreigner eager to access the epicenter of American power.

One night during his first few weeks in office, Trump was in Mar-a-Lago to host Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, when North Korea tested a ballistic missile aimed at Japan that landed at sea.

Almost immediately, at least one Mar-a-Lago customer posted photos of Trump and Abe on social media. coordinating your response during dinner in the resort dining room.

The photos showed White House aides huddled on their laptops and Trump talking on his cell phone.

The host also posted a photo of himself standing next to a person he described as Trump’s military aide carrying the nuclear “soccer ball,” the briefcase containing the codes to launch nuclear weapons.

Just two world leaders responding to a major security crisis: live for Trump resort members to watch in real time.

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