New in SpyWeek: Trump Cuts Alarm CIA, FBI, NSA, Cyber Command Veterans, Allies

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Trump gave a speech at CIA headquarters on Jan. 21, 2017 that annoyed many employees with its focus on his campaign and inaugural crowd size. He pledged full backing for the agency but soon publicly rebuked it.

INTEL FREEZE: CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that President Trump’s doubts about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s commitment to peace led the administration to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine, but the move led many here and abroad to question something else: America’s commitment to its allies. “What the hell is happening to your country?” one bewildered Western diplomat who served in Russia asked The Atlantic’s Shane Harris.  A senior Trump official told The New York Times the plan was to pause intelligence sharing for a week or two to pressure Zelenskyy, but that was little comfort to Ukraine as overnight Thursday and Friday, Russia launched 67 missiles of various types and 194 drones in a widespread attack on Ukrainian power and gas facilities. Trump said he was “considering” imposing sanctions and tariffs on Russia in response.

“Cutting off intelligence support to our Ukrainian partners will cost lives,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, called the president’s decision “unforgivable.” On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was more circumspect, saying peace required “challenging decisions.” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a big supporter of U.S. aid for Ukraine, was silent.

The pause on intelligence sharing and the temporary suspension of weapons shipments came on the heels of the tempestuous Trump-Zelenskyy White House meeting last week. “Everything that came from the Defense Department has stopped,” Valeriy Kondratiuk, the former head of HUR, one of Ukraine’s intelligence services, told the Times. 

Ukraine worried that the next thing to go could be Elon Musk’s vital Starlink service. Thousands of Starlink terminals are employed on the battlefield, providing real-time access to drone footage and maintaining communication.

According to the Kyiv Post, the intelligence the United States shared with Ukraine was comprised mainly of information from U.S. satellites processed by the National Security Agency. A typical example was the location, size, equipment, and activity of columns of Russian combat vehicles on roads heading toward Kyiv at the outset of the war. 

Word came Friday that the Trump administration had stopped sharing unclassified satellite images with Ukraine.