Alexander J. Potcovaru is a former National Security Intern at the Brookings Institution. A senior in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, he studies International Politics with an International Security concentration. He is particularly interested in the interaction of law, security, and religion.
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On Monday morning, President Donald Trump reiterated his support for Gina Haspel, his nominee to lead the CIA, the Washington Post reports.
North Korea discussed the possibility of giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for a pledge from the United States to not attack it and a formal resolution to the Korean War, the Associated Press reports. The statements from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came at a historic summit with South Korea held over the weekend. Kim also promised to shutter North Korea’s nuclear test site and allow experts and journalists from South Korea and the U.S.
Over the past week, the White House aggressively responded to concerns about President Donald Trump’s mental competency raised by the book Fire and Fury, prompting former chief strategist Stephen Bannon to walk back comments attributed to him in the book, the New York Times reports.
Lawfare began the year with a series of reflections on the state of the Trump presidency. Carrie Cordero examined the developments in President Trump’s relationship with the intelligence community throughout 2017.
The Iranian government has threatened a harsher response to protesters as citizens staged the largest anti-government demonstrations since 2009, the New York Times reports. Although Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has acknowledged the rights of the protesters, other officials’ statements and the growing security-service presence suggest that a crackdown may be imminent.
Carrie Cordero examined the developments in President Donald Trump’s relationship with the intelligence community throughout 2017. Benjamin Wittes analyzed Trump’s 2017 performance and his lackluster war against the Deep State. Paul Rosenzweig evaluated Trump’s year in cybersecurity.
Cooperation between the White House and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation appeared to fray this weekend after Kory Langhofer, an attorney for President Donald Trump, claimed that Mueller’s team improperly obtained emails between members of the Trump transition team in a letter Langhofer sent to Congress, the New York Times reports.