Spies in Loyal Service to Trump

With Gabbard, Ratcliffe and Ellis, a trifecta of worrisome appointments

Intelligence community veterans and long-time observers of the U.S. spy world were certainly disturbed by President Donald Trump’s move to appoint former Democratic congresswoman—and Kremlin apologist—Tulsi Gabbard to be director of the 2,000-strong office of National Intelligence. By comparison, the spy world’s reaction to Trump’s appointment of former GOP Congressman John Ratcliffe, who was the ODNI chief for Trump during 2020 and 2021, as director of the CIA has been tolerant, if not exactly welcoming, even though Ratcliffe’s handling of some intelligence issues raised questions about his probity during his term as the titular head of U.S. intelligence.

The New York Times reported that as DNI, Ratcliffe had contradicted analyses by intelligence professionals, offered GOP “operatives” top jobs at ODNI and released derogatory material about Hillary Clinton (which professionals feared could be Russian disinformation). Even so, Ratcliffe’s nomination by Trump to be his second-term CIA chief sailed fairly smoothly through the Senate, earning a bipartisan confirmation vote of 74-25. Then came the Senate’s ratification Wednesday of Gabbard to be DNI, despite the many misgivings about her advocacy for super-leaker Edward Snowden, her soft views of Putin and former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and her ties to a controversial Hindu cult. All of which was pretty astonishing, considering the Republicans' pre-Trump, decades-old  hard line on defense and intelligence issues.

One of Ratcliffe’s early moves at the CIA’s Langley, Va. headquarters confirmed fears on Capitol Hill and among intelligence veterans about the extent to which Trump’s new crew would move to stack spy agencies with political loyalists suspected, or even known for, a willingness to twist intelligence reporting and analysis to support Trump policies and goals.