New “Acting” Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
(Richard Grenell: Has zero intel background)
Putin to Trump (my hunch)
Update on this story which captured
both the anger and disgust of most of our intelligence community career employees
and specialists, especially the contents of this
NY Times story today about the new “Acting DNI” Richard Grenell who
replaced the previous “Acting DNI” Joseph Maguire,
who took over from the real DNI, Dan Coats, who resigned with this major
headline:
Trump's intelligence chief resigned after the White House repeatedly
suppressed his warnings about Russian interference,
New York Times reports
It’s hard to
keep track isn’t it? BTW: Trump loves this disruption for it allows him to
appoint “acting” heads who do not require senate confirmation and they in turn
can pull this crap that Grenell is not pulling – see below and recall Trump once said he “Loves the acting title.”
WASHINGTON — Richard Grenell’s tenure as the nation’s top
intelligence official may be short-lived, but he wasted no time this week
starting to shape his team of advisers, ousting his office’s No. 2 official — a 30-year intelligence
officer — and bringing in an
expert on Trump conspiracy theories to help
lead the agency.
Grenell
has also requested the intelligence behind the classified briefing last week
before the House Intelligence Committee where officials told lawmakers that
Russia was interfering in November’s presidential election and that Russian President
Vladimir Putin of Russia favored President Trump’s re-election.
The briefing
later prompted Trump’s anger as he complained that Democrats would use it
against him and then he canned Joseph Maguire, the former “acting DNI” and then
his deputy, Andrew Hallman, resigned.
Grenell
told Hallman, popular in the office’s Liberty Crossing headquarters, that his
service was no longer needed, according to two officials. Hallman, BTW, had worked
in that office or at the CIA for three decades, expressed confidence in his
colleagues in a statement but also referred to the “uncertainties that come
with change.”
The
ouster of Hallman and exit of Maguire, who also oversaw the National Counterterrorism
Center, allowed Grenell to install his own leadership team.
Ironically (my insert), one
of his first hires was Kashyap Patel,
a senior NSC staff member and former key aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and
the ranking GOP member of the House Intelligence Committee under Rep. Adam
Schiff (D-CA), whom every Republican from Trump on down has a bile hatred for.
Patel
will have a mandate to “clean house,” CBS News reported, citing a person close
to the matter.
Patel
was best known as the lead author of a politically charged memo two years ago
that accused FBI and DOJ leaders of abusing their surveillance powers to spy on
a former Trump campaign adviser (Carter
Page).
His memo was widely criticized as
misleading, though an inspector general later found other problems with aspects
of the surveillance.
(I note: We see the conspiracy nuts gaining power
this way in key government slots and that is scary stuff – very damn scary).
Working
with Nunes, Patel began what they called Objective Medusa to examine the FBI’s
investigation into whether anyone associated with the Trump campaign conspired
with Russia’s election interference in 2016.
Nunes
said: “I hired him to bust doors down”
and the receiver of that was author Lee Smith for his book: “The
Plot Against the President,” which chronicles Patel’s investigations on
behalf of the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. Patel was
interviewed extensively in the book, which claims without
proof that journalists, diplomats, law enforcement and
intelligence officials engaged in a vast plot to undermine Trump’s campaign and
then bring him down as president.
As
“Acting DNI” Grenell will have has access to any secrets he may want to review.
And he has requested access to information from the CIA and other intelligence
agencies, according to two people familiar with the matter.
My 2 cents: So, is Grenell about ready to do the dirty work for
Trump, by extension, Putin and emasculate our 16 intelligence agencies – it damn
sure looks like it …
This is getting very dark folks and quite frankly very, very dangerous.
FYI: I worked in the intelligence field all around the globe for over nine years
as an active duty Marine Corps interrogator and then nearly four years after
that. My language background is in Russian and Korean.
So I know a bit about of what I’m saying – this is a serious critical
issue and very dangerous path Trump has us on with this Grenell appointment and
more so by the henchmen like Patel and who knows who is next for a top job who
are well-known conspiracy nuts.
After learning of this I am 100% sure that Putin is laughing his ass
off and praising Trump as his self-appointed puppet master – I have no doubt
about that.
Thanks for stopping by.
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