Donald Trump seems to want an intelligence community that is personally loyal to him, rather than analytical and independent
Donald Trump fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector-general for America’s intelligence community . Mr Atkinson’s sin seems to have been following the law. He told Congress, as he was legally bound to do, about a whistleblower’s complaint regarding Mr Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president, over which Mr Trump was impeached last year. Mr Atkinson’s sacking highlights, obviously, Mr Trump’s vindictiveness.
The president can be dismissive of intelligence that fails to confirm his views. He recently mocked the’s findings on current Russian electoral interference as “rumour” and “disinformation”. He can also be cavalier. Soon after taking office, he revealed classified information provided by an American ally to Russia’s foreign minister. In August 2019, after an Iranian rocket launch failed, Mr Trump tweeted an image of the launch site that probably came from a spy satellite or drone.
Some harms from this behaviour are clear. Revealing sensitive information makes others warier of sharing it with America, which risks leaving America less informed about its adversaries. A president with more respect for theofficials seem less likely, with Mr Grenell asOther harms are more nebulous and harder to forecast. Because theworks in the shadows, its successes tend to be secret and its failures evident only in retrospect. Perhaps Mr Trump will be lucky.
This may reverse under a different president. So could, with enough time and reassurances, other countries’ wariness to share their secrets. But a second Trump term could leave theless a collection of independent analysts than an institution with broad powers to operate in secret for the president’s personal and political benefit—without, as Mr Atkinson’s sacking warns, any real oversight.
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