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January 5: 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.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/donald-trump-plans-to-revamp-cut-back-us-intelligence-agencies-2017-01-04
January 6: U.S. intelligence agencies have
concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a hacking campaign that
aimed to help President-elect Donald Trump and influence the U.S. election.
January 23: President Trump engaged in
revisionist history when he accused the “dishonest” media of making “it sound
like I had a feud with the intelligence community.”
May 16: After his election last fall,
President Trump often seemed at
war with the
CIA and the 16 other U.S.
intelligence agencies.
He likened them to Nazis. He mocked their judgment that Russia had intervened in
the campaign to help him win. And he repeatedly accused them of leaking to the
media to embarrass him and undermine the
White House.
But Trump's acrimony with America's spy services has escalated sharply over
concerns that he disclosed highly classified intelligence about Islamic State to
senior Russian diplomats that had been obtained in Syria, reportedly by Israel,
and had been given to Washington on the condition it go no further.
http://beta.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-trump-intel-war-20170516-story.html
August 17: Bernstein: Washington 'Consensus'
Questioning Trump's Abilities ... "There's considerable evidence that there's a
consensus developing in the military, at the highest levels, in the intelligence
community, among Republicans in Congress, including the leaders in the business
community that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is unfit to be
the president of the United States" ... "That's the undercurrent."
https://www.newsmax.com/Politics/carl-bernstein-donald-trump-unfit-president/2017/08/17/id/808136/
October 22: Trump offers new ‘instructions’
to U.S. intelligence agencies ... The international nuclear agreement with Iran
has proven to be effective and stabilizing, but the president, reflexively
opposed to each of his predecessor’s accomplishments, had concluded he hated the
Iran deal anyway.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-offers-new-instructions-us-intelligence-agencies
November 11: Trump chooses Putin's word over
the US intelligence community’s — again ... “I really believe that when he tells
me that, he means it.” ... Putin denied that Russia interfered in the 2016
presidential election — and Trump bought it.
“He said he didn't meddle, he said he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can
only ask so many times,” Trump
told reporters on Air Force One Saturday. “Every time he sees me he says I
didn't do that, and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.”
It’s remarkable enough that Trump openly admitted he just believed whatever
Putin told him. It’s even more startling when you realize that in January, the
FBI, CIA, and NSA clearly
assessed that
Russia did interfere in the election — and that Putin was behind it.
https://www.vox.com/2017/11/11/16636906/trump-russia-putin-intelligence
November 12: While President Donald Trump
says he believes Russian President
Vladimir Putin is sincere when he denies that Russia sought to interfere in
the 2016 U.S. election, the president said he personally believes the conclusion
of the U.S. intelligence community -– and not Putin -– that Russia did in fact
meddle in the election ... [Trump] expressed surprise that there was any
confusion about what he meant after previously telling reporters that Putin
“means it” when he says he didn’t meddle.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-agrees-us-intelligence-community-russia-meddled-election/story?id=51091798
November 12: Brennan & Clapper: Trump Called
Us "Hacks" To "Delegitimize" Intelligence Community; Criticism From Trump Is A
"Badge Of Honor"
"He was referring to us as political hacks because he was trying to delegitimize
the intelligence community assessment [about Russian hacking] that was done,"
Brennan said. "Jim Clapper, Jim Comey and John Brennan did not write that
assessment. It was written by the professional intelligence officers and law
enforcement officers of this great country.
November 12: Two top former U.S.
intelligence officials said Sunday that President Donald Trump is being "played"
by President Vladimir Putin on Russia's interference in the 2016 election and
accused him of being susceptible to foreign leaders who stroke his ego.
November 15: The Trump administration has
made no effort to hide
its disagreements with the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). Even before he
was elected, Trump
said he did not trust intelligence agencies and even compared them to Nazi
Germany
in a tweet.
It is normal for a president to privately question or debate the intelligence
community’s findings and analysis—after all, the IC has been
wrong before, and there are limits to what it can do and predict. But Trump
has publicly pitted himself against the IC in a very dangerous way on some of
the biggest threats to national security.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/us-intelligence-trump-disagree
December 18: President
Donald Trump's decision to share CIA intelligence with his Russian
counterpart about an impending terrorist attack aligns with established
policies, officials say, but the fact both leaders publicly acknowledged the
interaction is highly unusual.
The White House in a statement on Sunday confirmed that Russian President
Vladimir Putin had called Trump to thank him for providing advanced warning
of "a major terrorist plot" in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. Local
security services foiled the planned attack and detained multiple people
associated with it, the White House and the Kremlin said. ... officials in
Moscow lauded the coordination, which Russian state media said successfully
disrupted an Islamic State group terrorist cell operating in Russia.
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-12-18/trump-putin-call-on-intel-exchange-highly-unusual-experts-say
February 9: Rachel Brand, the third-ranking
official at the Justice Department, is expected to resign Friday.
A source familiar with Brand's plans said she is going to accept a job with
Walmart. A second source said she is leaving DOJ "because she got a great job."
Brand, the associate attorney general who was confirmed last May, has been a
prominent Trump administration official working on the reauthorizing of section
702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
May 24: No, Clapper Has Not 'Admitted That
There Was Spying' On Trump Campaign
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has not "admitted that
there was Spying" on Donald Trump's campaign in 2016.
The former spy baron has been making public appearances all week as part of the
tour for his new book, and interviewers have been asking him about the latest
news in the Russia imbroglio. President Trump mischaracterized what Clapper said
as part of his ongoing political counterattack against federal law enforcement
and the intelligence community.
https://www.npr.org/2018/05/24/614028376/fact-check-no-james-clapper-didnt-admit-there-was-spying-on-trump-campaign
July 13: IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Indictment ... In or around 2016, the Russian Federation ("Russia") operated a
military intelligence agency called the Main Intelligence Directorate of the
General Staff ("GRU"). The GRU had multiple units, including Units 26165 and
74455, engaged in cyber operations that involved the staged releases of
documents stolen through computer intrusions. These units conducted large-scale
cyber operations to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
https://www.justice.gov/file/1080281/download
July 16: US President Donald Trump has
defended Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election.
After face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Trump
contradicted US intelligence agencies and said there had been no reason for
Russia to meddle in the vote.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44852812
July 24:How US intelligence agencies can find out what Trump told Putin
August 30: A senior Justice Department
lawyer says a former British spy told him at a breakfast meeting two years ago
that Russian intelligence believed it had Donald Trump “over a barrel,”
according to multiple people familiar with the encounter.
The lawyer, Bruce Ohr, also says he learned that a Trump campaign aide had met
with higher-level Russian officials than the aide had acknowledged, the people
said.
The previously unreported details of the July 30, 2016, breakfast with
Christopher Steele, which Ohr described to lawmakers this week in a private
interview, reveal an exchange of potentially explosive information about Trump
between two men the president has relentlessly sought to discredit.
https://www.apnews.com/4ac772445073491aa7d3ca9e558e0144
September 8: Their new mission? Foil Trump.
Ex-intelligence officials run for Congress as Democrats.
They've hit the campaign trail, fed up with what they see as the president's
disdain for the intel community.
They put their lives on the line in foreign war zones, conducted secret missions
to collect valuable intelligence and made enormous sacrifices for their country
— only to see their former colleagues disrespected by President Donald Trump.
September 17: Trump Orders Declassification
of Intelligence Documents Related to Former Adviser Carter Page
President also orders declassification of FBI interviews with Justice Department
official Bruce Ohr
President Trump ordered the declassification of sensitive documents related to
the investigation into Russian election interference, a move that could
eventually allow the public unprecedented access to a probe that he has
repeatedly railed against.
October 25: The Trump administration is
cutting back on who on Capitol Hill gets to see intelligence reports on North
Korea's nuclear weapons program, according to multiple congressional
sources.
Under the new rules, each party's House and Senate leaders, along with the chair
and ranking member of the foreign relations committee, and the entire armed
service and intelligence committees, get direct access to the reports. It is a
change from previous distribution of North Korea related intelligence reports
which, for the most part, gave access to the entire committees and the staffers
on those committees.
The fear on Capitol Hill is that the limited distribution, which has been
implemented over the past few weeks, will leave Congress largely in the dark
when it comes to what U.S. intelligence has collected about North Korea's
motivations and nuclear developments. Some on the Hill, citing President Trump's
outreach to North Korea, worry that the White House is limiting the flow of
information because the reports might indicate Pyongyang is accelerating its
nuclear program.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-limits-sharing-of-north-korea-intelligence-with-congress/
October 25: Trump's phone calls are being
bugged by Russia and China, US intelligence claims
November 19: Trump once again rejects US
intelligence he finds inconvenient
U.S. intelligence professionals have spent quite a bit of time telling Donald
Trump that Russia intervened in American elections two years ago. He
still can’t bring himself to believe it – which is emblematic of a larger
problem with how this president perceives reality.
The intelligence community told Trump there are no dangerous Middle Easterners
“mixed in” among migrants from Honduras, but he
chooses to believe it anyway. Confronted with information about North Korea
building up new missile sites, the president
said, “Maybe they are. Maybe they’re not. I don’t believe that. I don’t.
And, you know, could be.”
The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the
killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a person briefed on the
CIA’s assessment. […]
The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the matter, first reported the
assessment, stating that the CIA made its conclusion with “high confidence.”
Khashoggi, a U.S. resident from Saudi Arabia, was a Washington Post opinion
contributor critical of the crown prince’s regime.
The Washington Post’s
report added that Trump has been aware of the evidence pointing to Mohammed
bin Salman’s involvement in the murder of an American journalist, but the
Republican “remains skeptical,” and has “looked for ways to avoid pinning the
blame on Mohammed.”
November 21: Trump names hand-picked panel
to supervise, investigate intelligence community
With Republicans poised to lose control of investigatory panels in the
House of Representatives, President Trump is resurrecting a potentially powerful
board capable of intimately reviewing intelligence agency conduct on his direct
orders.
The White House announced five appointments to the Presidential Intelligence
Advisory Board on Tuesday evening, after selecting a chairman and vice
chairwoman earlier this year.
December 4: “In Washington, the Way You Say,
‘I Told You So,’ Is to Leak Something”: With a Calculated Leak, the War Between
Trump and the Intelligence Community Escalates
December 6: How Trump Changes His Story on
the Russia Investigation
President Donald Trump has called special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation
a “witch hunt” that’s found no evidence of wrongdoing by his presidential
campaign.
But facts uncovered by the probe, intelligence community reports and news
stories have forced Trump at times to acknowledge that some of his blanket
denials in the past were wrong.
When doing so, however, Trump has followed a pattern. After the blanket denial,
Trump admits to a minimal version of the facts, then, later, makes a full
admission but argues that there was nothing wrong with it in the first place.
http://time.com/5472949/donald-trump-russia-denials/
March 7: President Donald Trump on Wednesday
revoked an Obama-era requirement for reporting civilian casualties that resulted
from U.S. intelligence operations in non-combat areas across the globe.
Trump struck a section of an executive order issued by former President Barack
Obama that required both the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies to report on
civilian casualties that occurred during their operations. There are other
provisions that still require the Pentagon to report on civilian casualties
caused by military operations outside of combat areas.
“I don’t know why they’re being coy,” said Steven Aftergood, a government
secrecy expert at the private Federation of American Scientists. “They are not
saying, ‘We don’t want to report CIA operation casualties,’ but that’s what
they’re doing. They are eliminating reporting of casualties arising from CIA
operations.”
Schiff called the move a “troubling retreat from transparency” and pledged to
make the reporting by the intelligence agencies mandatory again by including it
in this year’s intelligence authorization bill.
https://www.apnews.com/2a3f08749ef949c8969a6cf5b0e0ad26
