Left on a Jet Plane
I just had to get away.
I was vaccinated against Trump Derangement Syndrome long before he showed up on the Potomac. Nixon, Ford, the Bushes, Vietnam, Watergate, Iraq, Afghanistan—all had sanded off the edges of my rage over the years. Plus, of course, there were always criminal manservants—the H.R. Haldemans and Paul Manaforts, to name just two—that deserved equal disdain, maybe even deranged hatred.
But a combination of things this week propelled me to get out of Dodge and seek the company of longtime friends in New England. It wasn’t just the approaching heat dome, the tacky Trump-inflected “State Fair” booths on the National Mall, the oozing Lincoln Reflecting Pool, the open sores of the East Wing demolition and so much more of the disfigurement of downtown Washington, now bisected by security fences and patrolled by armed troops. It was the relatively overlooked but astounding wreckage of what we’re obligated to cover here: U.S. intelligence.
Normally, I’d be spending today assembling all the news in that realm and rendering them into bite-sized pieces for my weekly SpyTalk column. But because I bolted town on short notice for a days-long respite from Trumpism and a good soak in salt water, I’m just going to leave a few things for you to ponder on this bittersweet 4th of July. To me, they overshadow all the other troubling developments in the administration’s misconduct of national security anyway.
Item: “Bill Pulte Picks G.O.P. Election Operative for Spy Agency Job” Like her boss, Christina Norton has no known national security or intelligence background. She’s only been a GOP “elections monitor.” (New York Times)
Item: “Trump Demands Master List of Espionage Targets Tracked by U.S. Intel” Now why would he want that? (TNR)
Item: “Trump says Pulte can declassify ‘whatever’ he wants, sparking fears of exposing intelligence secrets”. Needs no further explanation. (FCW/NextGov)
But wait: “Court orders Trump administration to rehire fired intelligence officers.” A judge says firing 19 officers of the CIA and the National Intelligence Director’s Office just because they were assigned to jobs promoting diversity was illegal. (NBC)
Phew. Catch you on the rebound. Have a good one.
Please, use sunscreen. Only saying this in the hope of protecting a national treasure.
"Item: “Trump Demands Master List of Espionage Targets Tracked by U.S. Intel” Now why would he want that? (TNR)"
Something on a check list of "What do you say to a defector that wants to make a deal?" Right. Who works for you? Is there a waterside property on the Black Sea waiting for our boy?