Latest in Intelligence Community
Why are U.S. intelligence agencies still applying extraordinary safeguards to the incidentally collected communications of Chinese, Russian and Iranian citizens as well as the nationals of EU allies that refuse to offer similar privacy protections to Americans?
Joshua Rovner’s insightful response to my post on politicization by a loyalist director of national intelligence (DNI) focuses on the issue of public dissent. Rovner and I share many concerns about who President Trump may seek to install as DNI.
Editor's Note: Austin Carson's response can be read here.
In September 2017, in his first column for the Washington Post, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi described the repression in his home country as “unbearable” and called out Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for creating an environment of “fear” and “intimidation.” A year later, Khashoggi was murdered by a Saudi hit squad.
The Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG) released a statement about the whistleblower form that the Ukraine whistleblower used to file his complaint.
On Sept. 13, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff issued a subpoena to Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire to compel the production of a whistleblower complaint.
Last week saw an important development in the continuing erosion of governmental checks and balances. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff subpoenaed Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire and wrote a blistering letter accusing Maguire of violating the law by withholding a whistleblower’s complaint from the Intelligence Committee.
The Jan. 29 Senate testimony by intelligence community leaders highlighted a number of crisis areas that were of little surprise to most followers of the news: U.S. troops and advisers are engaged around the globe working with allies and others to address critical issues in Syria and Iraq, and managing threats from Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and elsewhere.
Earlier this week, CIA Director Gina Haspel, FBI Director Christopher Wray, NSA Director Paul Nakasone, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Robert Ashley and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testified in an open hearing to the Senate intelligence committee about global threats to U.S. national security.
The recent midterm elections served as a reminder—comforting to many—that the Trump presidency will end. The next president will be challenged to heal a fractured society, return integrity to public service and restore essential government institutions. We will not have a full accounting of how U.S. intelligence fared during the Trump years until a credible investigation is undertaken or survivors emerge to document their experiences. The next president will confront three realities: