Putin sure gets his money’s worth from our own Director of National Intelligence. Director of Nyet Intelligence seems more apt with Tulsi Gabbard in the job. That’s she’s sympathetic (more like supportive) towards Putin has long been known. Pootie and the Kremlin love her. Especially when she does things like she just did stripping several dozen people of their security clearances and announcing their names the next day. However one of them is a CIA agent who’s been operating undercover!
This is the sort of dumbass, dangerous incompetence we’ve come to expect. It’s borne out of Trump’s vindictiveness as the Wall Street Journal explains. Trump can’t let go of his having sought and gotten help from Putin in 2016, nor losing the election in 2020 and yes there’s a connection between those events and Gabbard carrying out a portion of Trump’s revenge:
Most of the 37 people had either participated in intelligence assessments related to Russia’s attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election or had signed a 2019 letter calling for President Trump’s impeachment.
Gabbard didn’t know the CIA officer had been working undercover, according to a person familiar with the fallout from the list’s release. Three other people with knowledge of the situation said that Gabbard’s office didn’t meaningfully consult with the CIA before releasing the list.
The WSJ reports several sources say Gabbard delivered the list to the CIA the evening before she publicly released the names on it. Gabbard’s office didn’t seek any CIA input on the matter, nor did it tell them Gabbard would be releasing the list of names the next day. Oh, and in the memo announcing her actions Gabbard stated she was acting on Trump’s orders! I wonder if Putin could stop laughing long enough to send Gabbard a Thank You message or gift.
If you recall last month Gabbard and Director Ratcliffe had a spat over her declassifying a CIA assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election. It was lightly redacted and Ratcliffe wanted more redactions. He objected to Gabbard not redacting information that revealed sensitive sources and methods. You’d think Gabbard would have gone along with Ratcliffe. It’s not like she didn’t find a way to send the full unredacted report to her (and Trump’s) master anyway.
As for outing someone working undercover, well that was plain stupid at best. Giving the CIA time to evaluate the list seems like a no-brainer, and at least they could have prepared to deal with the loss of so many people with Russia expertise. Not to mention make a case for protecting the undercover agent. Alas, as with Valeria Plame the costs both to National Security and the financial cost of outing someone didn’t matter. With the GOP if the boss (President) wants payback the by god they’ll find someone willing to get it for them. It takes millions to establish and maintain cover identities for covert operatives. Years of work go into it, especially the maintaining it part.
No matter. Trump considers anyone who simply did their jobs, in this case people with Russia/Eastern Europe expertise someone he doesn’t want in the government. And, if they actually worked on stuff that illustrated Putin was supporting him then better keep the resume up to date. So, we’ve lost yet another true Russia expert and yes, this person WAS an expert:
The CIA official whose clearance was revoked last week is a longtime Russia hand at the agency. The officer has held intelligence posts for more than 20 years and worked from 2014 to 2017 as an expert on Russia and Eurasia on the National Intelligence Council, according to a publicly listed biography.
Earlier this year, the CIA officer spoke at a classified intelligence conference and was described as a senior executive manager in the CIA’s Europe and Eurasia mission center.
I wish I could say this was a surprise but it’s not. Trump had people systematically strip the FBI of career professionals with extensive experience in Russian intelligence/counter-intelligence. That of course continues as we see people who as I stated simply took part in groups assigned to work on Russia related matters – for now the purge at any agency in DHS or DOJ is focused on finding those who dared carry out their assigned duties that happened to involve Trump. In Gabbard, he has someone literally overseeing all U.S. intelligence who is as beholden to Putin as Trump is. And just as ham-handed.
Trump rants about people still talking about “Russia, Russia Russia.” Well Donny Dumbass being so obvious about your petty payback is why people still look at all that! Just a thought.
