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WSJ: Donald Trump Plans Revamp of Top U.S. Spy Agency (CIA, National Intelligence)

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T

Tripon

Member
http://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmake...umps-dismissal-of-u-s-intelligence-1483554450

WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump, a harsh critic of U.S. intelligence agencies, is working with top advisers on a plan that would restructure and pare back the nation's top spy agency, people familiar with the planning said, prompted by a belief that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has become bloated and politicized.

The planning comes as Mr. Trump has leveled a series of social media attacks in recent months and the past few days against U.S. intelligence agencies, dismissing and mocking their assessment that the Russian government hacked emails of Democratic groups and individuals and then leaked them last year to WikiLeaks and others in an effort to help Mr. Trump win the White House.

One of the people familiar with Mr. Trump's planning said advisers also are working on a plan to restructure the Central Intelligence Agency, cutting back on staffing at its Virginia headquarters and pushing more people out into field posts around the world. The CIA declined to comment on the plan.

”The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world [is] becoming completely politicized," said the individual, who is close to the Trump transition operation. ”They all need to be slimmed down. The focus will be on restructuring the agencies and how they interact."
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But for Mr. Trump and some of his supporters, the accusations of Russian hacking and the criticism of WikiLeaks are seen as an effort to delegitimize the president-elect's victory.

Since his November election, Mr. Trump has published close to 250 Twitter posts. Of those, 11 have focused on Russia or the election-related cyberattacks. In each of those tweets, Mr. Trump either has flattered Russian President Vladimir Putin—last month calling him ”very smart"— or disparaged the investigation into the hacks.
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The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was established in 2004 in large part to boost coordination between intelligence agencies following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Many Republicans have proposed cutting the ODNI before, but this has proven hard to do in part because its mission centers are focused on core national security issues, such as counterterrorism, nuclear proliferation, and counterintelligence.

”The management and integration that DNI focuses on allows agencies like the CIA to better hone in on its own important work," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who believes dismantling the ODNI could lead to national security problems.
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Oh Boy.
 
N

NYCmetsfan

Banned
we're fucked

”The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world [is] becoming completely politicized," said the individual, who is close to the Trump transition operation. ”They all need to be slimmed down. The focus will be on restructuring the agencies and how they interact."
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No the opposite is true. You're politicizing it.
 
R

rjc571

Banned
That's gonna be a really bad look for him if terrorist attacks on US soil continue becoming more prevalent
 
W

WillyFive

Member
This guy is calling everything that is against him or his agenda's views to be politicized and trying to get rid of it. It's so transparently evil and dangerous.
 
LQX

LQX

Member
This might be good thing but no fucking way this will or should fly given how pro-Russia he is.
 
L

luxarific

Nork unification denier
Should be interesting to see who gets blamed when first big terrorist attack in the US happens after the restructure. Will the IC be blamed for "missing" the intel or will Trump be blamed for destroying the IC?
 
G

GetLucky

Member
rjc571 said:
That's gonna be a really bad look for him if terrorist attacks on US soil continue becoming more prevalent
Click to expand...

I mean, if all you have to do is say "the Democrats did it" and people will believe it without any regards for facts, will it really matter?
 
andythinkpad

andythinkpad

Member
I don't know if you guys familiar with JFK's case. One person he pissed off that he was not supposed to piss off was long time CIA chief Allen Dulles.

Just saying.
 
O

Oscar

Member
I mean, if we were able to get hacked by Russians I agree there should be some changes.

Not under the Donald "We need to get better at Cyber' Trump banner though.
 
H

hawk2025

Member
He acts exactly, to the dot, like an authoritarian populist that will eventually concentrate power.

It's uncanny. We've seen this exact scenario so many times all around the world.
 
I

Ithil

Member
They really love claiming everything they don't like is "politicized" as a cheap excuse to get rid of it, for political reasons.
 
S

shem935

Banned
Oscar said:
I mean, if we were able to get hacked by Russians I agree there should be some changes.

Not under the Donald "We need to get better at Cyber' Trump banner though.
Click to expand...

You mean not under the guy who asked for it in the campaign and then called putin smart a week ago also. Revamping those agencies won't prevent that sort of stuff if the guy at the top benefits from it and appreciates it.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
The word 'politicized' is used when you don't know what you are talking about and don't have a good answer on why you are doing what you are doing. Or at the very least don't want to disclose your reasons publicly.
 
H

Hazmat

Member
To avoid any American politics being involved we'll just outsource all our intelligence work to Russia. What could go wrong?
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
He has such thin skin that he feels the need to get revenge and lash out at any perceived insult.

He's probably doing this because the CIA was one of the first groups to come out about the hacks and side with reality.
 
A

Advocatus Diaboli

Member
Oscar said:
I mean, if we were able to get hacked by Russians I agree there should be some changes.

Not under the Donald "We need to get better at Cyber' Trump banner though.
Click to expand...

Hardening the DNC's networks isn't one of the IC's missions. And this is, I'm guessing, about neutering ODNI, which itself has suffered tremendous growing pains since the passage of the IRTPA.
 
B

Biske

Member
What could go wrong.



I don't know enough about the US Intelligence Community as a whole, certainly not enough to comment on it.


But I think its clear to every person in the world, or should be, that Trump is absolutely not the person to revamp anything.

Wouldn't trust him to reorganize my shoes, and I only have like 3 pairs.
 
M

Mimosa97

Member
rjc571 said:
That's gonna be a really bad look for him if terrorist attacks on US soil continue becoming more prevalent
Click to expand...

No it won't. It's a win-win situation for Trump. If there are even more terrorist attacks he can use that as a mean to go full fascist with the support of the population. If there are no terrorist attacks under his mandate he'll use that to show how good of a president he is to get elected for a second term.
 
B

BriGuy

Member
The added irony here is that the major terrorist attack this facilitates will occur in a major, predominantly liberal city and kill people who voted against him. The added added irony is that his brutish, knuckle-dragging response to said terrorist attack will help him get re-elected.
 
O

OceanBlue

Member
This is pretty terrifying partially because of how opaque these organizations already are. Also because it's Trump.
 
U

uncredited male

Member
CIA is for foreign intelligence for the most part. It really would be the US intelligence agency hostile foreign powers would like to see weakened the most.

I don't actually think this is some grand conspiracy but that Trump is just that petty and short-sighted.
 
T

TestOfTide

Banned
Mimosa97 said:
No it won't. It's a win-win situation for Trump. If there are even more terrorist attacks he can use that as a mean to go full fascist with the support of the population. If there are no terrorist attacks under his mandate he'll use that to show how good of a president he is to get elected for a second term.
Click to expand...

Except most Americans didn't like his response to the Pulse Shooting. Trump v Clinton was one of the few times where the Democrat actually had better numbers on "handling terrorism".
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
uncredited male said:
I don't actually think this is some grand conspiracy but that Trump is just that petty and short-sighted.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's hard to see if this is some grand conspiratorial plan or just him going 'you embarrassed me so I hate you' in a petty narcissist way. Probably the latter.
 
A

Advocatus Diaboli

Member
NYCmetsfan said:
Flynn angry for being neutered for being an anti-islamic nut
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Somewhat likely. Flynn was the Director, DIA, which tends to operate with independence, considering it's a DoD component. My guess is that ODNI is going to revert back to a pure coordination role and lose its oversight functions, and any teeth -- like having say in programs funded by National Intelligence Program appropriations -- will disappear.
 
I

i-Lo

Member
Well done America. Good times ahead, good times indeed. In the coming years I wouldn't be surprised if he releases his plans to make tactical use of thermonuclear warhead (subsequent to a terrorist attack, if not a preemptively).

War is good business and a political distraction.

Mimosa97 said:
No it won't. It's a win-win situation for Trump. If there are even more terrorist attacks he can use that as a mean to go full fascist with the support of the population. If there are no terrorist attacks under his mandate he'll use that to show how good of a president he is to get elected for a second term.
Click to expand...

Well that's with the presumption that the opposition remains completely spineless.
 
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