Trump's Distain over US Intelligence

11/28

President-elect advisor Conway says not to worry about Trump's turning CIA briefers away since he is receiving information from a variety of sources. I guess Trump feels CIA cadre were all hired by Obama and are peddling what must be biased analysis (since said analysis does not square with his personal convictions/understandings).  I would be amazed if he even  understands how the intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination cycle has been honed over decades to cull out false information and analyst bias.

If Trump disdains considered analysis from experienced intelligence professionals in favor of the views of those who are peddling their points of view and/or unverified "facts" we are in real trouble. The Iraqi intelligence 'failures' were due, in part, to the Pentagon's use of sources deemed unreliable by the CIA. Can you imagine establishing our policy towards Iran based on the views of Israelis and the Iranian diaspora? At least Pence is receiving the briefings, but we don't know what role Pence plays in decision making.

This sad state of affairs was predicted by Robert Gates in a September WSJ editorial.   He criticizes the GOP standard-bearer as “willfully ignorant about the rest of the world, about our military and its capabilities, and about government itself.” “He has no clue about the difference between negotiating a business deal and negotiating with sovereign nations,” Gates writes. “A thin-skinned, temperamental, shoot-from-the-hip and lip, uninformed commander-in-chief is too great a risk for America.”