US spies have raised alarms about \u201cinexperienced loyalists\u201d threatening their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former US President Donald Trump is \u201clikely\u201d<\/em> to launch sweeping reforms of the US intelligence community if he is re-elected in November, prompting concerns from the agencies that once baselessly accused him of ties to Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>Politico interviewed 18 intelligence officials \u2013 including several former Trump appointees who later came out as his outspoken critics \u2013 in an article<\/a> published on Monday, warning that the possible purge could \u201cundermine the credibility of American intelligence.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>\u201cTrump intends to go after the intelligence community,\u201d<\/em> said one former senior intelligence official. \u201cHe started that process before and he\u2019s going to do it again. Part of that process is to root out people and to punish people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>The new president would replace \u201cpeople perceived as hostile to his political agenda with inexperienced loyalists,\u201d<\/em> Politico summarized the claim by Trump critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two people specifically named were former acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell and aide Kash Patel, who played a key role in declassifying materials about the origins of \u2018Russiagate\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Politico acknowledged that Trump\u2019s hostility to the intelligence community was related to the infamous document claiming that Russia \u201cinterfered\u201d<\/em> in the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton. It quoted former FBI official Andrew McCabe defending the inclusion of the so-called Steele Dossier<\/a> \u2013 produced by a former British spy paid by the Clinton campaign via cut-outs \u2013 in the appendix as merely due diligence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>Though the FBI quickly found out that the dossier was false and who funded it, they continued to use it<\/a> to spy on Trump\u2019s campaign and presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>When Trump challenged the intelligence assessment \u2013 authored not by all 17 agencies, but a hand-picked group of Obama administration loyalists \u2013 at the July 2018 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the spies felt that \u201cnever before had a commander in chief so publicly delegitimized their work.\u201d<\/em> Trump\u2019s DNI Dan Coats told Politico that this prompted him to offer his resignation in February 2019 \u2013 which was eventually accepted that August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Trump appointees turned critics interviewed in the article were former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Fiona Hill<\/a>, a top Russia adviser on the National Security Council \u2013 and witness against Trump at his Ukraine impeachment trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>\u201cHe wants to weaponize the intelligence community,\u201d<\/em> lamented Hill. \u201cIf he guts the intel on one thing, he\u2019ll be partially blinding us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>Several unnamed officials said Trump\u2019s possible purges could jeopardize \u201csources and methods\u201d<\/em> used by US spies and undermine the trust American allies have in Washington, which the Biden administration has tried so hard to rebuild. Back in December, a diplomat from an unnamed NATO member country described<\/a> Trump getting re-elected and actually purging the US administrative apparatus as a \u201cdoomsday option.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Others worried that appointments of \u201ccontroversial\u201d<\/em> figures could lead competent junior officials and staff to resign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are thousands of people busting their ass, often in dangerous places, sacrificing a lot for the country. And to have their work just dismissed by a commander in chief, is really just discouraging,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Jon Darby, former director of operations at the National Security Agency (NSA), told Politico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n