America’s intelligence agencies prepare for life after Trump
Repairing their reputation with sources and allies is not their biggest challenge
“THE WHOLE job of the intelligence community (IC),” explains Angus King, a senator from Maine whom Joe Biden considered naming Director of National Intelligence, “is to seek the truth and tell the truth…[and to] provide absolutely unvarnished information without worrying what the leader wants to hear.” Most presidents value such independence. Donald Trump, less so. Over the past four years, he has compared intelligence agencies to Nazis, rubbished intelligence that displeased him and replaced professionals with unqualified sycophants. Doug Wise, a former deputy director of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), calls Mr Trump “the global equivalent of an intelligence cancer”, who has damaged morale within agencies and emboldened America’s adversaries.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Shadow business”
United States December 5th 2020
- America’s economic recovery no longer looks so strong
- How much does a few billion dollars get you in 2020?
- Congress edges closer to cracking-down on anonymous shell corporations
- Millions of Americans still get their drinking water from lead pipes
- America’s intelligence agencies prepare for life after Trump
- Jake Sullivan to the rescue
From the December 5th 2020 edition
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